Did the U.S. actually “conserve the world” in World War II? Should dark athletes end protesting and display more gratitude for what America has done to them? Are wars fought to spread freedom and democracy? Or is usually this all fake news?

American Exceptionalism and American Innocence examines the stories we’re informed that lead us to think which the U.S. is a force for good in the world, no matter slavery, the genocide of indigenous people, as well as the more than a century’s worth of imperialist war that the U.S. provides wrought on the planet.

Sirvent and Haiphong fine detail precisely what Captain America’s shield tells us about the pretensions of U.S. international policy, how Angelina Jolie and Expenses Gates take part in humanitarian imperialism, and just why the Broadway musical Hamilton is normally a monument to white supremacy.