Struggle for the American Mediterranean: United States – European Rivalry in the Gulf – Caribbean 1776 - 1904

Langley, Lester D., Struggle for the American Mediterranean: United States – European Rivalry in the Gulf – Caribbean 1776 - 1904, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1976.

Reviewed in The Florida Historical Quarterly © 1977.

From the book cover sleeve:

For nearly three centuries, the rich areas adjoining the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean have been the objects of intense and often violent competition among other nations. In this well documented study, Lester D. Langley traces the rivalry of the United States with several European nations for the control of this territory between the benchmark dates of 1776 … and 1904, when the United States instituted a protectorate system over the Dominican Republic, a system which symbolized the expansion and power of the United States in the Western hemisphere. In the epilogue of this intriguing chronicle, Mr. Langley further discusses the moral superiority the United States assumed in its dealings with the Caribbean world and the ingenuity it revealed in the form of policies that were curious blends of idealism and expediency.