The Samoan tangle: A study in Anglo-German-American relations, 1878-1900

by Paul Kennedy

A study in Anglo-German-American relations, 1878-1900.

325 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Paul Michael Kennedy is a British historian specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He has published prominent books on the history of British foreign policy and Great Power struggles.

Reviews

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just one huge political game between the Americans, England and Germany. The Somoan Islands were of little significance, and why it took 22 years is the real problem to solve in this book. It was interesting to read about each countries ego going into the peak of imperalisim and Samoa being one of the few remaining unoccupied islands left. This also lays the groundwork for the relations of the countries going into world war I. It was a great read if only to discover the origins of the current American Samoa.

4.4/5 stars. The author does his best to keep the topic interesting, but it does get dry. He does make a lot of assumptions that the reader should know about people and certain events. I thought the conclusion was a little bit unnecessary as it was just a summary except maybe the last 3 pages of that section. Overall I would recommend this to anyone looking to study the growing political struggle going into the 20th century and beyond.