| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 87.3

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 87.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The Danger of Dreams: German and American Imperialism in Latin America. By Nancy Mitchell. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. xiv, 312 pp. Cloth, $49.95, ISBN 0-8078-2489-5. Paper, $19.95, ISBN 0-8078-4775-5.)

The German threat in the Western Hemisphere from the late nineteenth century to World War I was a delusion, and the United States succumbed to it most unrealistically, yet with a consistency that raises the question of the diplomatic usefulness of that vagary. Such is Nancy Mitchell's compelling thesis, which purports to be "a case study in threat perception." What she finds intriguing is not so much "the existence of the image" as "its durability"; she takes issue with most scholarly treatments of the problem and challenges "the idea of a German threat" given the lack of archival evidence. Historians of German imperialism in her eyes have so far equated intentions or desires with capabilities. The scope of Mitchell's impeccable research is impressive, notably on the German side; she never balks at reexamining oft-sifted material and takes pains to probe every long-accepted conclusion regarding the German menace. . . .

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