While, as a colonial settler society, the newly independent United States certainly had many differences with later decolonizing nations composed primarily of conquered peoples, such as India for example, it still faced the classic dilemma facing any newly independent nation: how to reconcile the conflicting impulses concerning how much to repudiate and how much to emulate the prior colonial regime. Such is the key premise of this work by Haynes (history, U. of Texas at Arlington), which seeks to recontextualize the development of American political, economic, cultural, and diplomatic history in light of tensions within the United States concerning its relationship with Great Britain following the war of 1812. This is a paperbound reprint of the 2010 edition. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)