Empire, Roosevelt, and Mark Twain with Stephen Kinzer

This week, Kelly is joined by historian and journalist Stephen Kinzer to discuss his book The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire. They dig into the Spanish-American War, the fierce imperialist vs. anti-imperialist debate it sparked, and how those same arguments still echo through American foreign policy today.

Find The True Flag here: https://www.amazon.com/True-Flag-Theodore-Roosevelt-American/dp/1627792163

Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

0:13 – Introducing Stephen Kinzer and The True Flag

2:21 – What Was the Spanish-American War?

6:22 – The Imperialist Case: Roosevelt and Lodge

11:05 – The Philippines and the Rise of Insurgency

17:36 – The Anti-Imperialist Senate Debate

24:01 – Mark Twain's Anti-Imperialist Crusade

27:08 – William Jennings Bryan's Complicated Role

31:18 – The Legacy of 1898 Today