America's Middlemen Power at the Edge of Empire

Throughout American political history, the US government has formed alliances with militias, tribes, and rebels. Sometimes, these alliances have been successful, dramatically reshaping the battlefield. But these alliances have also risked creating larger wars in regions where the United States had no real interest. Understanding these alliances - and much of American political history - requires moving beyond our normal focus on traditional diplomats or social elites. Traders, missionaries, former slaves, and low-level government employees drove these alliances. These intermediaries used their relationships across borders to shape security politics, affecting American and thereby world history. Skillfully integrating political science with history and sociology, Eric Grynaviski provides a novel account of who matters and why in international politics. By developing broader views about political agency - how people come to make a difference in world politics - he brings into focus new histories of world politics and how they matter for scholars and the public.

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Power from the margins; 2. Rebels or savages; 3. Pirates and hookahs; 4. Red, blue, or gray; 5. Pigs and papists; 6. Islands or canned goods; 7. The daredevil and his porter; 8. Joe and the Sheikh; Conclusion; Collections and government documents consulted; Index.

Eric Grynaviski is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University, Washington, DC. His first book, Constructive Illusions (2014), won the American Political Science Association's Robert L. Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award for International History and Politics. Grynaviski is a member of the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association. His work has appeared in International Organization, International Theory, Security Studies, the European Journal of International Relations, and the Review of International Studies.