American Imaginaries examines the diverse societies and nations of the Western hemisphere as they have emerged across the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Exploring cities, capitalism, nations, nationalism, and politics from both comparative and transnational perspectives, the book develops a unique approach based on the paradigms of civilizational analysis and social imaginaries. In addition to providing a fresh perspective on the Americas,American Imaginaries gives proper analysis of multinational and intra-national regions and, crucially, the civilizational force of resurgent indigenous nations. The book also covers regions often underemphasized in histories of the hemisphere, such as Central America and the Caribbean.

The book will appeal to scholars and students of history, Atlantic studies, comparative and historical sociology, and social theory. In addition, it will gain audiences amongst academics and graduate students who follow debates about modernity, civilizations, historical constellations, and social imaginaries.

Jeremy C A Smith is in the Institute of Education, Arts and Community at Federation University Australia. His principal research interests lie in the disciplinary fields of historical and comparative sociology and social theory. He has published inEuropean Journal of Social Theory,Current Sociology,Critical Horizons,Thesis Eleven,Journal of Intercultural Studies,Atlantic Studies andPolitical Power and Social Theory. He is the author ofEurope and the Americas: State Formation, Capitalism and Civilizations in Atlantic Modernity (2006) andDebating Civilizations: Interrogating Civilizational Analysis in a Global Age (2017). He is also a Managing Editor of theInternational Journal ofSocial Imaginaries and Rowman& Littlefields Social Imaginaries series. His current work revolves around the multidisciplinary fields of civilizational analysis and social imaginaries.

Acknowledgments

Part One - American Imaginaries: Dimensions of National Societies

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Making Americans: Migration and Cities as Metropolitan Imaginaries

Chapter 3: Creating Capitalism: National States and Regional Patterns

Chapter 4: Political Imaginaries, Political Traditions: Ideologies and State Formation

Part Two: Transnational Regions of the Diverse Americas

Chapter 5: The Undeclared Empire? US Power in the Western Hemisphere and Beyond

Chapter 6: A Region of Regions: Provincializing the Americas

Chapter 7: First Nations Movements and Indigenous Modernities

Chapter 8: Conclusion: Civilizational Analysis, Multiple Imaginaries, and the Diverse Americas

References

Notes

Index

About the Author