"The U.S. invasion of Haiti in July 1915 marked the start of a military occupation that lasted for nineteen years - and fed an American fascination with Haiti that flourished even longer. Exploring the cultural dimensions of U.S. contact with Haiti during the occupation and its aftermath, Mary Renda shows that what Americans thought and wrote about Haiti during those years contributed in crucial and unexpected ways to an emerging culture of U.S. imperialism."--BOOK JACKET.