Constructing America's Enemies: The Invasions of the USA

Abstract

As soon as the USA began to emerge as an imperial power in the late nineteenth century, writers began to publish narratives describing how the country was being attacked by different hostile forces. The identity of these forces was sometimes clear (as in Yellow Peril narratives); sometimes they were figured more ambiguously as alien species. Whatever particular form they took, these agencies are used by the writers concerned to probe perceived weaknesses and anxieties in the USA such as the nation's lack of military preparedness, or post-Second World War fears of depersonalized conformity. This essay examines a range of examples from the 1880s through to the Cold War period.