Ethnology and Empire

A superb work. Summing Up: Highly recommended. ~Choice

Ethnology and Empire demonstrates the power and flexibility of postmodern approaches to the study of colonial relationships. ~American Quarterly

An original, beautifully written book on the rapidly changing ideas about language in American culture during the early nineteenth century. Ethnology and Empireengages the social history of the borderlands and linguistics to introduce a new way of looking at the formation of ideas about race and ethnography in the antebellum period. A fascinating read. ~Kirsten Silva Gruesz,author of Ambassadors of Culture: The Transamerican Origins of Latino Writing

Through masterful engagement with nineteenth century literary production and ethnology, Robert Gunn underscores how the cultural work of linguistic contact is vital to our understanding of the ideologies of empire that slowly gained force in the evolving U.S. nation-state.Ethnology and Empiremakes a significant contribution in the hemispheric turn in American studies, threading together little-known histories that advance the field and push our thinking about borderlands in innovative ways. ~Robert David Aguirre,author of Informal Empire: Mexico and Central America in Victorian Culture