Secret Mission: Manifest Destiny

History has never been my favourite subject. However, Manifest Destiny still kept my attention and I was astounded by how much I learned. Of course everyone is generally familiar with America's Puritan roots, ruthless slaughter of the Native Americans, and ever evolving democratic mission of spreading and inflicting our ideals on the less endowed cultures. Reading Stephanson was like spooning into my mouth bite after bite of historical detail I had never considered before, often before I had swallowed the previous bite. Consequently I felt a bit overwhelmed by the scope of what he covered, but after breaking it down I really appreciated his analyses, and occasionally his language.
The best phrase in the entire book I found on the top of page 45, "it was as usual a genocidal catastrophe for the Indian population." I first thought such a nonchalant mention of this egregious error of American history must be a mistake. After all, what else could the United States possibly have done that was so wrong, as well as embarrassing? Certainly there would have to be more mention of this subject, because I couldn't think of any other comparable actions. And so I grew more and more amazed at the discovery of secret orders to prepare for war, hidden agendas to take over smaller nations or territories if only a politically correct cover could be found, and even playing with Mexico's political leaders -all in the name of gaining territory.
The religious implications too were astounding. The origination of the phrase, "manifest destiny," itself had a long history of use and revival, and it seemed to me was often used as an excuse. People only needed validation that they in some way had a right to new lands in order for them to perform inexcusable slaughter and takeover. Granted, this was not always the case and much of unsettled America was empty of population, but then again, much of it was not. My discovery from this book that religion and the "divine" duty rooting back from, "go forth and multiply," were primary tools of American expansionism stretching from the beginning of the book and the first American settlers, clear through to the election of Ronald Reagan as president and his revival of the idea of one nation under the one true faith.
I think the best comment I can give this book is that it caused me outright to ponder each and every word, and the consequences of those words for American history.