Cast in Deathless Bronze: Andrew Rowan, the Spanish-American War, and the Origins of American Empire

In this history of late 19th-century American expansionism, Rice debunks the popular story of Andrew Summers Rowan’s secret 1898 mission to Cuba, using the young army lieutenant as a lens for examining U.S. military actions during the Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars. Rowan’s intelligence-gathering expedition centered on a meeting with the Cuban rebel leader Gen. Calixto García Íñiguez. Two months later, writer and “megalomaniac” Elbert Hubbard transformed the event into a largely fabricated but wildly popular account, rocketing Rowan to widespread renown. Despite Hubbard’s central role in apotheosizing Rowan, Rice engages only briefly with the author and his text, preferring instead to focus on broader U.S. imperialist developments. Following Rowan from his early days at West Point to his later command during the Moro Rebellion, Rice interweaves personal and national history to outline major shifts in expansionist activity under McKinley and Roosevelt. This book is not a biography: Rice scrupulously attends to detail, but he offers limited analysis of Rowan’s character or the significance behind his exploits. Readers who thrill to the particulars of life in military camps will find much to enjoy here; those hoping for a sustained critique of U.S. diplomacy may be less satisfied. [em](Dec.) [/em]