"In this book, Susan Gillman uncovers the ways that geographers and historians, novelists and travel writers, used "American Mediterranean" as a formula from the early nineteenth century to the 1970s. She asks what cultural work is done by this kind of unsystematic, hypothetical, even open-ended comparative thinking. Although "American Mediterranean" is not a household term in the United States today, it once circulated widely in French, Spanish, and English. Gillman tracks two centuries of this geohistorical concept across different networks of writers: from nineteenth-century geographers to writers of the 1890s who reflected on the Pacific world of Southern California, and to literary writers and thinkers of the 1930s and 40s who drew on this comparative tradition to speculate on the political past and future of the Caribbean. As Gillman shows, all these figures grappled with the American legacies of European imperialism and slavery. Following the term through its travels across disciplines and borders, Gillman reveals a little-known racialized history, both long-lasting and fleeting, one that paradoxically appealed to a range of race-neutral ideas and ideals. American Mediterraneans adds and explicates a new element in the stock of race discourses in the Americas"--

February issue includes Appendix entitled Directory of United States Government periodicals and subscription publications; September issue includes List of depository libraries; June and December issues include semiannual index

The 'Original Six' frigates were commissioned by the new-born US Navy at a staggering cost of nearly $700,000. Designed to be light and fast, these warships enabled America to project its power across the globe. Among the ships Mark Lardas examines is USS Constellation: the first ship to be commissioned by the United States Navy. Alongside stirring accounts of engagements during the Barbary Wars, the author explores the design and development of these frigates, explaining the shortcomings that led to their replacement by larger, heavier 44-gun models by 1800. Packed with contemporary illustrations of US frigates and their British and French rivals, this book follows the escalation of the naval 'arms race' during the 18th century.