Episode Details

Journalist Carlos Berríos Polanco talks with James, outlining the United States' overseas colonial empire and how it was started by a quest for bird poop. 

Sources:

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr

Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State edited by Alfred W. McCoy and Francisco A. Scarano

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23780231241274187

https://fortune.com/2026/07/27/hormuz-fertilizer-guano-islands-act-fertilizer-empire/ 

https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/navassa-island-the-uss-160-year-forgotten-tragedy

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-09-26/almost-half-of-americans-dont-know-puerto-ricans-are-us-citizens-poll 

https://www.doi.gov/oia/islands/politicatypes 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/30/puerto-rico-independence-movement 

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-CARIBBEAN/MILITARY-BUILDUP/egpbbnzyrpq/ 

https://www.nminewsservice.com/cnmi-covenant-united-states-50th-anniversary-explainer-timeline/ 

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