There is more than enough coverage of US imperialism in contemporary media to fill days of airwaves, but not that much material that speaks through the words of the imperial management itself. This collection of documents showing views on the rest of the world by American policy leaders, strategists and special service heads mirrors the glasses through which other global powers in history saw countries and people subjected - or to be subjected - to their rule. Reading this documentary material leaves nobody with enough space to claim we live in a post-imperial era.