The British and Roman empires are often invoked as precedents to the Bush administrations aggressive foreign policy. But Americas imperial identity was actually shaped much closer to home. In a brilliant excavation of long-obscured history, Empires Workshop shows how Latin America has functioned as a proving ground for American strategies and tactics overseas. Historian Greg Grandin follows the United States imperial operations from Jeffersons aspirations for an empire of liberty in Cuba and Spanish Florida to Reagans support for brutally oppressive but U.S.-friendly regimes in Central America. He traces the origins of Bushs current policies back to Latin America, where many of the administrations leading lights first embraced the deployment of military power to advance free market economics and enlisted the evangelical movement in support of their ventures. With much of Latin America now in open rebellion against U.S. domination, Grandin asks: If Washington failed to bring prosperity and democracy to Latin Americaits own backyard workshopwhat are the chances it will do so for the world?