| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The American Empire and the Fourth World, vol. 1: The Bowl with One Spoon. By Anthony J. Hall. (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003. xlvi, 683 pp. $39.95, ISBN 0-7735-2332-4.)

Europe's invasion, conquest, and colonization of the hemisphere to its west beginning in the fifteenth century; the continuation of its imperialism in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific; the contemporary globalization of capitalism; and the use of military force to destroy those who oppose or obstruct it are, according to Anthony J. Hall, all part of a single trajectory of global ideological domination. That ideology is possessive individualism, and it has "placed death sentences on ... many of the world's distinct peoples" (p. 68). Exposing both its genocidal and ecocidal consequences, Hall argues that there are at least two possible modes of globalization. One, the historical outcome of five centuries of European imperialism, is spread by force and coercive assimilation, rationalized by the presumed supremacy of European culture, and aims at global cultural homogeneity. The other, non-European and indigenous, is spread by consent, not conquest; respects human cultural diversity; is grounded in mutual respect for the self-determination of peoples; and envisions a pluralistic world order reflecting the interconnectedness of all forms of life. The simultaneous diversity and unity of life is represented in the title's metaphoric "bowl with one spoon," our common reliance on a single integrated ecosystem where our survival depends on our ability to share.

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