Empire of Liberty: Power, Desire, and Freedom [Paperback]

In this thoughtful and timely consideration of the nature of American power and empire, Anthony Bogues argues that Americas self-presentation as the bastion of liberty is an attempt to force upon the world a single universal truth, which has the objective of eradicating the radical imagination. Central to this project of American supremacy is the elaboration and construction of a language of power in which a form of self-government appears as the form of sovereignty. Grappling with issues of power, race, slavery, violence, and the nature of postcolonial criticism and critical theory, Bogues offers reconsiderations of the writings of W. E. B. DuBois and Frantz Fanon in order to break holes in this accepted structure of empire. At its heart this is a work of radical humanistic theory that seeks to glean from the postcolonial world and empire an alternative to its imperial form of freedom.

ANTHONY BOGUES is Harmon Family Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University. He is the author of numerous books, including Black Heretics and Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals.

Acknowledgments Introduction EMPIRE OF LIBERTY  Desire, Power, and the States of Exception RACE, HISTORICAL TRAUMA, AND DEMOCRACY  The Politics of a Historical Wrong DEATH, POWER, VIOLENCE, AND NEW SOVEREIGNTIES THE END OF HISTORY OR THE INVENTION OF EXISTENCE  Critical Thought and Thinking about the Human Notes Bibliography Index