In this Book

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In recent decades the Internet has played what may seem to be a unique role in international crises. This book reveals an interesting parallel in the late nineteenth century, when a new communications system based on advances in submarine cable technology and newspaper printing brought information to an excitable mass audience. A network of insulated copper wires connecting North America, the Caribbean, South America, and Europe delivered telegraphed news to front pages with unprecedented speed.

Britton surveys the technological innovations and business operations of newspapers in the United States, the building of the international cable network, and the initial enthusiasm for these electronic means of communication to resolve international conflicts. Focusing on United States rivalries with European nations in Latin America, he examines the Spanish American War, in which war correspondents like Richard Harding Davis fed accounts of Spanish atrocities and Cuban heroism into the American press, creating pressure on diplomats and government leaders in the United States and Spain. The new information system also played important roles in the U.S.-British confrontation in the Venezuelan boundary dispute, the building of the Panama Canal, and the establishment of the U.S. empire in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

In recent decades the Internet has played what may seem to be a unique role in international crises. This book reveals an interesting parallel in the late nineteenth century, when a new communications system based on advances in submarine cable technology and newspaper printing brought information to an excitable mass audience. A network of insulated copper wires connecting North America, the Caribbean, South America, and Europe delivered telegraphed news to front pages with unprecedented speed.

Britton surveys the technological innovations and business operations of newspapers in the United States, the building of the international cable network, and the initial enthusiasm for these electronic means of communication to resolve international conflicts. Focusing on United States rivalries with European nations in Latin America, he examines the Spanish American War, in which war correspondents like Richard Harding Davis fed accounts of Spanish atrocities and Cuban heroism into the American press, creating pressure on diplomats and government leaders in the United States and Spain. The new information system also played important roles in the U.S.-British confrontation in the Venezuelan boundary dispute, the building of the Panama Canal, and the establishment of the U.S. empire in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-vi
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. vii-x
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  1. Introduction: Main Themes and Organization of the Book
  2. pp. xi-xiv
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  1. 1: Introduction to the New International Information System
  2. pp. 1-28
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  1. 2: Building the International Cable System
  2. pp. 29-50
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  1. 3: Raising False Hopes: International Communications and International Crises in Latin America, 1866–1881
  2. pp. 51-66
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  1. 4: War, Diplomacy, and Propaganda: Chilean-U.S. Relations, 1866–1880s
  2. pp. 67-84
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  1. 5: European Intrusions, Domestic Disorder, and U.S. Armed Intervention: Central America in the 1880s
  2. pp. 85-108
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  1. 6: Confrontation via the Information System: Chile and the United States, 1889–1892
  2. pp. 109-132
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  1. 7: Popularization of the Imperial Mentality: From Border Crisis to Hemispheric Hegemony
  2. pp. 133-152
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  1. 8: Propaganda, Public Uproar, and the Threat of War: The United States, Great Britain, and the Venezuelan Boundary Controversy
  2. pp. 153-172
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  1. 9: Information Flow and Revolution: Cuba, Spain, and the United States
  2. pp. 173-198
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  1. 10: Diplomacy Under Stress: Washington, Havana, and Madrid
  2. pp. 199-228
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  1. 11: Information Flow, the U.S. Press, and the War with Spain
  2. pp. 229-256
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  1. 12: The Panama Conspiracy
  2. pp. 257-280
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  1. 13: Celebrations of Heroism and Power
  2. pp. 281-314
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  1. Conclusion: The Ominous Triumph of Popular Culture
  2. pp. 315-336
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  1. Notes
  2. pp. 337-412
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  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 413-448
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 449-473
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  1. Back Cover
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