Nuancing the Patterns of Empire Informal Empire, Anti-Imperialism, and Transnationalism

Espiritu’s essay locates Julian Go’s Patterns of Empire in the context of the critical literature of US-Philippine colonial studies and explains why it is a signal contribution to that literature. It provides an appreciative view of its argument against exceptionalism as well as its comparative critical analysis of the British and US empires. Finally, it raises several questions about empire, informal empire, and anti-imperialism as a way of furthering the dialogue the book seeks between political studies writ large and postcolonial studies.