- Table View
- List View
Empire, Economics, and the New Testament
by Peter OakesPeter Oakes has long been recognized for his illuminating use of Greco-Roman material culture and social-scientific criticism to interpret the New Testament. This volume combines his best work in a single volume and introduces a substantial new essay that challenges current scholarly approaches to paradoxical teachings of the New Testament. Of special interest to Oakes throughout this book is the concrete impact of economic realities and Roman imperialism on first-century Christian communities meeting in house churches. To address this, Oakes considers an array of textual and archaeological resources from first-century non-elite life, including extensive archaeological evidence available from Pompeii. Readers will find here a deep trove of wisdom for understanding the New Testament in the context of the Greco-Roman world.
Empire, Education, and Indigenous Childhoods: Nineteenth-Century Missionary Infant Schools in Three British Colonies (Studies in Childhood, 1700 to the Present)
by Larry Prochner Helen May Baljit KaurTaking up a little-known story of education, schooling, and missionary endeavor, Helen May, Baljit Kaur, and Larry Prochner focus on the experiences of very young ’native’ children in three British colonies. In missionary settlements across the northern part of the North Island of New Zealand, Upper Canada, and British-controlled India, experimental British ventures for placing young children of the poor in infant schools were simultaneously transported to and adopted for all three colonies. From the 1820s to the 1850s, this transplantation of Britain’s infant schools to its distant colonies was deemed a radical and enlightened tool that was meant to hasten the conversion of 'heathen' peoples by missionaries to Christianity and to European modes of civilization. The intertwined legacies of European exploration, enlightenment ideals, education, and empire building, the authors argue, provided a springboard for British colonial and missionary activity across the globe during the nineteenth century. Informed by archival research and focused on the shared as well as unique aspects of the infant schools’ colonial experience, Empire, Education, and Indigenous Childhoods illuminates both the pervasiveness of missionary education and the diverse contexts in which its attendant ideals were applied.
Empire, Humanism and Rights: Collected Essays on Francisco de Vitoria (Studies in the History of Law and Justice #21)
by José María BeneytoThis book deals with Vitoria, Charles V and Erasmus. Vitoria’s ideas had a major influence on Charles V and his European and American policy. In turn, Erasmus’ humanism was decisive in the formation of a new international order intellectually discussed by Vitoria and put into practice by the Emperor.Shedding new light on the influence of Francisco de Vitoria and Erasmus on Charles V’s imperial policy, the book’s goal is to explore the impact of Vitoria’s thought with regard to the history of, and contemporary issues in, international law, while also comparing his thinking with that of the well-known humanist Erasmus and assessing their respective influences on the imperial policy of Charles V.
Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations That Built British Colonialism
by Philip J. Stern“Brilliant, ambitious, and often surprising. A remarkable contribution to the current global debate about Empire and a small masterpiece of research and conceptual reimagining.”—William Dalrymple, author of The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an EmpireAn award-winning historian places the corporation—more than the Crown—at the heart of British colonialism, arguing that companies built and governed global empire, raising questions about public and private power that were just as troubling four hundred years ago as they are today.Across four centuries, from Ireland to India, the Americas to Africa and Australia, British colonialism was above all the business of corporations. Corporations conceived, promoted, financed, and governed overseas expansion, making claims over territory and peoples while ensuring that British and colonial society were invested, quite literally, in their ventures. Colonial companies were also relentlessly controversial, frequently in debt, and prone to failure. The corporation was well-suited to overseas expansion not because it was an inevitable juggernaut but because, like empire itself, it was an elusive contradiction: public and private; person and society; subordinate and autonomous; centralized and diffuse; immortal and precarious; national and cosmopolitan—a legal fiction with very real power.Breaking from traditional histories in which corporations take a supporting role by doing the dirty work of sovereign states in exchange for commercial monopolies, Philip Stern argues that corporations took the lead in global expansion and administration. Whether in sixteenth-century Ireland and North America or the Falklands in the early 1980s, corporations were key players. And, as Empire, Incorporated makes clear, venture colonialism did not cease with the end of empire. Its legacies continue to raise questions about corporate power that are just as relevant today as they were 400 years ago.Challenging conventional wisdom about where power is held on a global scale, Stern complicates the supposedly firm distinction between private enterprise and the state, offering a new history of the British Empire, as well as a new history of the corporation.
Empire, Industry and Class: The Imperial Nexus of Jute, 1840-1940 (Routledge/Edinburgh South Asian Studies Series)
by Anthony CoxPresenting a new approach towards the social history of working classes in the imperial context, this book looks at the formation of working classes in Scotland and Bengal. It analyses the trajectory of labour market formation, labour supervision, cultures of labour and class formation between two regional economies – one in an imperial country and the other in a colonial one. The book examines the everyday lives of the jute workers of the imperial nexus, and the impact of the ‘Dundee School’ of Scottish mechanics, engineers and managers who ran the Calcutta jute industry. It goes on to challenge existing theories of imperialism, class formation and class struggle – particularly those that underline the exceptional nature of the Indian experience of industrialization - and demonstrates how and why Empire was able to provide an opportunity to test and perfect ways of controlling the lower classes of Dundee. These historical debates have a continued relevance as we observe the impact of globalization and rapid industrialization in the so-called developing world and the accompanying changes in many areas of the developed world marked by de-industrialization. The book is of use to scholars of imperial history, labour history, British history and South Asian history.
Empire, Kinship and Violence: Family Histories, Indigenous Rights and the Making of Settler Colonialism, 1770-1842 (Critical Perspectives on Empire)
by Elizabeth ElbourneEmpire, Kinship and Violence traces the history of three linked imperial families in Britain and across contested colonial borderlands from 1770 to 1842. Elizabeth Elbourne tracks the Haudenosaunee Brants of northeastern North America from the American Revolution to exile in Canada; the Bannisters, a British family of colonial administrators, whistleblowers and entrepreneurs who operated across Australia, Canada and southern Africa; and the Buxtons, a family of British abolitionists who publicized information about what might now be termed genocide towards Indigenous peoples while also pioneering humanitarian colonialism. By recounting the conflicts that these interlinked families were involved in she tells a larger story about the development of British and American settler colonialism and the betrayal of Indigenous peoples. Through an analysis of the changing politics of kinship and violence, Elizabeth Elbourne sheds new light on transnational debates about issues such as Indigenous sovereignty claims, British subjecthood, violence, land rights and cultural assimilation.
Empire, Nation-building, and the Age of Tropical Medicine, 1885–1960 (Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Modern History)
by Mauro Capocci Daniele CozzoliThis book investigates the complex relationship between the development of modern empires, nation, and the history of tropical medicine. Broadening existing historiographical perspectives, it explores imperialism outside of the British Empire, drawing on case studies from other colonial experiences in Africa, Asia, and South America in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. Each of these systems adopted different approaches to colonial health and medicine. By studying their diversity, it is possible to obtain a more comprehensive picture of what we now call ‘tropical medicine.’ The authors emphasise that the British model cannot be adapted to all colonial experiences, drawing on relevant cases from both interoceanic and continental empires. The collection comprises three sections. The first examines the role of tropical medicine in the evolution and collapse of empire in countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands. The second part analyses the links between tropical medical institutions and imperial commercial and political expansion in Britain and Brazil. Finally, the authors tackle the crucial interrelated circulation of people, objects, and ideas amongst countries including Brazil, China, Italy, and Spain. Using a medical lens to analyse the inter-connected processes of nation-building and colonial expansion in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, this book provides valuable reading for scholars of imperialism and medical history alike.
Empire, Nationalism and the Postcolonial World: Rabindranath Tagore's Writings on History, Politics and Society (Routledge/Edinburgh South Asian Studies Series)
by Michael CollinsBy presenting a new interpretation of Rabindranath Tagore’s English language writings, this book places the work of India’s greatest Nobel Prize winner and cultural icon in the context of imperial history and thereby bridges the gap between Tagore studies and imperial/postcolonial historiography. Using detailed archival research, the book charts the origins of Tagore’s ideas in Indian religious traditions and discusses the impact of early Indian nationalism on Tagore’s thinking. It offers a new interpretation of Tagore’s complex debates with Gandhi about the colonial encounter, Tagore’s provocative analysis of the impact of British imperialism in India and his questioning of nationalism as a pathway to authentic postcolonial freedom. The book also demonstrates how the man and his ideas were received and interpreted in Britain during his lifetime and how they have been sometimes misrepresented by nationalist historians and postcolonial theorists after Tagore’s death. An alternative interpretation based on an intellectual history approach, this book places Tagore’s sense of agency, his ideas and intentions within a broader historical framework. Offering an exciting critique of postcolonial theory from a historical perspective, it is a timely contribution in the wake of the 150th anniversary of Tagore's birth in 2011.
Empire, Political Economy, and the Diffusion of Chocolate in the Atlantic World (Early Modern Iberian History in Global Contexts)
by Irene FattacciuChocolate is one of the most visible examples of how a deeply exotic consumer product penetrating our daily lives fascinated Europeans during the Early Modern period. Today, over fifty percent of the four million tons of cocoa produced globally come from Sub-Saharan Africa. Ecuadorian cocoa, on the other hand, is considered premium quality. Yet the fact that Ecuadorian cocoa is preferred by today's artisanal chocolate makers is one of history’s ironic turns. During the eighteenth century, production and exports of Ecuadorian cocoa dramatically expanded due to its fast growth rate, high yield and low price, though certainly not due to its qualities of taste. This book analyzes the transition of chocolate from an exotic curiosity to an Atlantic commodity. It shows how local, inter-regional, and Atlantic markets interacted with one another and with imperial political economies. It explains how these interactions, intertwined with the resilience of local artisanal production, promoted the partial democratization of chocolate consumption as well as economic growth.
Empire, Politics and the Creation of the 1935 India Act: Last Act of the Raj
by Andrew MuldoonThe 1935 Government of India Act was arguably the most significant turning point in the history of the British administration in India. The intent of the Act, a proposal for an Indian federation, was the continuation of British control of India, and the deflection of the challenge to the Raj posed by Gandhi, Nehru and the nationalist movement. This book seeks to understand why British administrators and politicians believed that such a strategy would work and what exactly underpinned their reasons. It is argued that British efforts to defuse and disrupt the activities of Indian nationalists in the interwar years were predicated on certain cultural beliefs about Indian political behaviour and capacity. However, this was not simply a case of 'Orientalist' policy-making. Faced with a complicated political situation, a staggering amount of information and a constant need to produce analysis, the officers of the Raj imposed their own cultural expectations upon events and evidence to render them comprehensible. Indians themselves played an often overlooked role in the formulation of this political intelligence, especially the relatively few Indians who maintained close ties to the colonial government such as T.B. Sapru and M.R. Jayakar. These men were not just mediators, as they have frequently been portrayed, but were in fact important tacticians whose activities further demonstrated the weaknesses of the colonial information economy. The author employs recently released archival material, including the Indian Political Intelligence records, to situate the 1935 Act in its multiple and overlapping contexts: internal British culture and politics; the imperial 'information order' in India; and the politics of Indian nationalism. This rich and nuanced study is essential reading for scholars working on British, Indian and imperial history.
Empire, Religion and Revolution in Early Virginia, 1607�1786
by James B. BellThis book is a chronicle of England's contrasting imperial civil and ecclesiastical policies for its first two colonies, Ireland and Virginia. The settlement of Virginia contrasted sharply with England's experience in Ireland. It was not an undertaking of the state but a commercial enterprise delegated by James I to the merchant adventurers of the Virginia Company of London. The colony was launched without the familiar English civil, military, and ecclesiastical personnel and leadership applied in Ireland. It was the Company's obligation to recruit settlers for the colony, provide governance, administration, laws, and religious worship in accordance with the English Church. Ireland was not an imperial model for Virginia. The novelty of governing a sparsely settled colony thirty-seven-hundred miles distant from Whitehall in London proved financially difficult for the Virginia Company. After its charter was revoked in 1624 the province became a royal jurisdiction. Gradually over several decades the governor and legislature advocated and implemented statutes for the conduct of civil, ecclesiastical, trade, and commercial affairs. Between 1680 and 1713 London officials applied new imperial policies for the governance of overseas affairs that became the formula for the administration of the province until the Declaration of Independence.
Empire, State, and Society: Britain since 1830
by Andrew T. Harris Jamie L. BronsteinEmpire, State, and Society assesses the external and internal forces behind Britain's transformation from global superpower to its current position in the twenty-first century. The authors provide an accessible and balanced introduction, which is thoughtfully organized for ease of use for both students and teachers. Offers a crucial comparative dimension which sets the experience of Britain alongside that of twenty-first-century superpower, the United States of America Draws on recent scholarship to provide a highly current perspective Organised to allow professors to assign readings with more or less depth as student abilities and course lengths allow Written in a style that is wholly accessible and exciting for undergraduates in both the US and the UK
Empire, Technology and Seapower: Royal Navy crisis in the age of Palmerston (Cass Series: Naval Policy and History)
by Howard J. FullerThis book examines British naval diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War to the American Civil War, showing how the mid-Victorian Royal Navy suffered serious challenges during the period. Many recent works have attempted to depict the mid-Victorian Royal Navy as all-powerful, innovative, and even self-assured. In contrast, this work argues that it suffered serious challenges in the form of expanding imperial commitments, national security concerns, precarious diplomatic relations with European Powers and the United States, and technological advancements associated with the armoured warship at the height of the so-called 'Pax Britannica'. Utilising a wealth of international archival sources, this volume explores the introduction of the monitor form of ironclad during the American Civil War, which deliberately forfeited long-range power-projection for local, coastal command of the sea. It looks at the ways in which the Royal Navy responded to this new technology and uses a wealth of international primary and secondary sources to ascertain how decision-making at Whitehall affected that at Westminster. The result is a better-balanced understanding of Palmerstonian diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War to the American Civil War, the early evolution of the modern capital ship (including the catastrophic loss of the experimental sail-and-turret ironclad H.M.S. Captain), naval power-projection, and the nature of 'empire', 'technology', and 'seapower'. This book will be of great interest to all students of the Royal Navy, and of maritime and strategic studies in general.
Empire, the British Museum, and the Making of the Biblical Scholar in the Nineteenth Century: Archival Criticism
by Gregory L. CuéllarSince the modern period, the field of biblical studies has relied upon libraries, museums, and archives for its evidentiary and credentialing needs. Yet, absent in biblical scholarship is a thorough and critical examination of the instrumentality of the discipline’s master archives for elite power structures. Addressing this gap in biblical scholarship lies central to this book. Interrogated here is a premier repository or master archive of the discipline: the British Museum. Using an assemblage of critical theories from archival discourse to postcolonial studies, space theory to governmentality studies, the focal point of this book is at the intersections of the Museum’s rise to scientific prominence, the British Empire, and the conferring of scientific authority to modern biblical critics in the nineteenth century. Gregory L. Cuéllar initiates a season of historicization of the master archives of biblical studies and archival criticism.
Empire-building and Empire-builders: Twelve Studies
by Edward IngramThe twelve studies of empire-building and empire-builders which make up this volume range widely across the dream world that was the British Empire from the late eighteenth century to the Second World War. The essays re-interpret the work of imperial heroes, eminent historians, and fictional heroines. They illustrate the variety of techniques used by British empire-builders and the variety of explanations they gave to account for their sometimes infamous behaviour.
Empire: A Groundwork Guide (Groundwork Guides)
by James LaxerA fascinating look at empires and imperialism, and the new kind of empire the United States has become. An excellent introduction for young adults. The United States presides over the most far-flung imperial system ever established. Empire compares the American Empire to those of the past, finding that much can be learned from the fates of the British, Roman, Chinese, Incan, and Aztec empires. James Laxer draws ominous parallels with the British who discovered too late that empire building ultimately threatens the health of democracy at home. Documenting how the American Empire works and what it means to the rest of the world, Empire asks: Does the American Empire bring stability to a troubled world? Or, like its imperial predecessors, does it impose inequality and oppression on humanity? And what happens when an empire stumbles? "[The Groundwork Guides] are excellent books, mandatory for school libraries and the increasing body of young people prepared to take ownership of the situations and problems previous generations have left them." -- Globe and Mail Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2 Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.3 Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
Empire: A New History Of The World: The Rise And Fall Of The Greatest Civilizations
by Paul StrathernA dazzling new history of the world told through the ten major empires of human civilization. Eminent historian Paul Strathern opens the story of Empire with the Akkadian civilization, which ruled over a vast expanse of the region of ancient Mesopotamia, then turns to the immense Roman Empire, where we trace back our Western and Eastern roots. Next the narrative describes how a great deal of Western Classical culture was developed in the Abbasid and Umayyad Caliphates. Then, while Europe was beginning to emerge from a period of cultural stagnation, it almost fell to a whirlwind invasion from the East, at which point we meet the Emperors of the Mongol Empire . . . Combining breathtaking scope with masterful narrative control, Paul Strathern traces these connections across four millennia and sheds new light on these major civilizations—from the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty to the Aztec and Ottoman, through to the most recent and biggest empires: the British, Russo-Soviet, and American. Charting five thousand years of global history in ten lucid chapters, Empire makes comprehensive and inspiring reading to anyone fascinated by the history of the world.
Empire: A Novel of the Golden Age (The\khan Dynasty Ser. #4)
by Conn IgguldenIn Conn Iggulden&’s latest historical epic, join Pericles, the lion of Athens, on his journey to secure the fate of the Athenian empire.Pericles returns home more than a hero: he's the leader of Athens, the empire's beacon of light. But even during times of peace, the threat of Sparta—Athens's legendary rival—looms large on the horizon. When a sudden catastrophe brings Sparta to its knees, Pericles sees a golden opportunity to forever shift the balance of power in his city's favor. For sometimes, the only way to win lasting peace is to wage war. Sparta may be weak, but their power is far from extinguished. Soon a ruthless young boy steps forward to lead the Spartans back to greatness. As the drums of battle draw closer, can Pericles rise to victory once more—or will the world's greatest empire fall under his watch?
Empire: A Very Short Introduction
by Stephen HoweA great deal of the world's history is the history of empires. Indeed it could be said that all history is colonial history, if one takes a broad enough definition and goes far enough back. And although the great historic imperial systems, the land-based Russian one as well as the sea-borne-empires of western European powers, have collapsed during the past half century, their legacies shape almost every aspect of life on a global scale. Meanwhile there is fierce argument, and much speculation, about what has replaced the old territorial empires in world politics. Do the United States and its allies, transnational companies, financial and media institutions, or more broadly the forces of 'globalization', constitute a new imperial system? Stephen Howe interprets the meaning of the idea of 'empire' through the ages, disentangling the multiple uses and abuses of the labels 'empire', 'colonialism', etc., and examines the aftermath of imperialism on the contemporary world.
Empire: A sweeping epic saga of Ancient Rome
by Steven SaylorIn the international bestseller Roma, Steven Saylor told the story of the first thousand years of Rome by following the descendants of a single bloodline. Now, in Empire, Saylor charts the destinies of five more generations of the Pinarius family, from the reign of the first emperor, Augustus, to the glorious height of Rome's empire under Hadrian.Through the eyes of the Pinarii, we witness the machinations of Tiberius, the madness of Caligula, the cruel escapades of Nero, and the chaos of the Year of Four Emperors in 69 A.D. The deadly paranoia of Domitian is followed by the Golden Age of Trajan and Hadrian-but even the most enlightened emperors wield the power to inflict death and destruction on a whim.Empire is strewn with spectacular scenes, including the Great Fire of 64 A.D. that ravaged the city, Nero's terrifying persecution of the Christians, and the mind-blowing opening games of the Colosseum. But at the novel's heart are the wrenching choices and seductive temptations faced by each new generation of the Pinarii. One unwittingly becomes the sexual plaything of the notorious Messalina. One enters into a clandestine affair with a Vestal virgin. One falls under the charismatic spell of Nero, while another is drawn into the strange new cult of those who deny the gods and call themselves Christians.However diverse their destinies and desires, all the Pinarii are united by one thing: the mysterious golden talisman called the fascinum handed down from a time before Rome existed. As it passes from generation to generation, the fascinum seems to exercise a power not only over those who wear it, but over the very fate of the empire.Praise for Steven Saylor:'Saylor expertly weaves the true history of Rome with the lives and loves of its fictional citizens.' Daily Express'Saylor's scholarship is breathtaking and his writing enthrals' Ruth Rendell'With the scalpel-like deftness of a Hollywood director, Saylor puts his finger on the very essence of Roman history.' Times Literary Supplement'Readers will find his work wonderfully (and gracefully) researched... this is entertainment of the first order.' Washington Post
Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World
by Niall FergusonNiall Ferguson's acclaimed bestseller on the highs and lows of Britain's empire'A remarkably readable précis of the whole British imperial story - triumphs, deceits, decencies, kindnesses, cruelties and all' Jan Morris Once vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not just the waves, but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Just how did a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic achieve all this? And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Niall Ferguson's acclaimed Empire brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries, showing how a gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers planted the seed of the biggest empire in all history - and set the world on the road to modernity.'The most brilliant British historian of his generation ... Ferguson examines the roles of "pirates, planters, missionaries, mandarins, bankers and bankrupts" in the creation of history's largest empire ... he writes with splendid panache ... and a seemingly effortless, debonair wit' Andrew Roberts 'Dazzling ... wonderfully readable' New York Review of Books'Empire is a pleasure to read and brims with insights and intelligence' Sunday Times
Empire: The Novel Of Imperial Rome
by Steven SaylorContinuing the saga begun in his New York Times bestselling novel Roma, Steven Saylor charts the destinies of the aristocratic Pinarius family, from the reign of Augustus to height of Rome’s empire. The Pinarii, generation after generation, are witness to greatest empire in the ancient world and of the emperors that ruled it—from the machinations of Tiberius and the madness of Caligula, to the decadence of Nero and the golden age of Trajan and Hadrian and more.<P><P> Empire is filled with the dramatic, defining moments of the age, including the Great Fire, the persecution of the Christians, and the astounding opening games of the Colosseum. But at the novel’s heart are the choices and temptations faced by each generation of the Pinarii.<P> Steven Saylor once again brings the ancient world to vivid life in a novel that tells the story of a city and a people that has endured in the world’s imagination like no other.
Empire: The Novel of Imperial Rome
by Steven Saylor"May Steven Saylor's Roman empire never fall. A modern master of historical fiction, Saylor convincingly transports us into the ancient world...enthralling!" —USA Today on Roma Continuing the saga begun in his New York Times bestselling novel Roma, Steven Saylor charts the destinies of the aristocratic Pinarius family, from the reign of Augustus to height of Rome's empire. The Pinarii, generation after generation, are witness to greatest empire in the ancient world and of the emperors that ruled it—from the machinations of Tiberius and the madness of Caligula, to the decadence of Nero and the golden age of Trajan and Hadrian and more. Empire is filled with the dramatic, defining moments of the age, including the Great Fire, the persecution of the Christians, and the astounding opening games of the Colosseum. But at the novel's heart are the choices and temptations faced by each generation of the Pinarii. Steven Saylor once again brings the ancient world to vivid life in a novel that tells the story of a city and a people that has endured in the world's imagination like no other.
Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power
by Niall FergusonThis grand narrative history of the world's first experiment in globalization offers lessons for an ever-expanding American Empire--from England's most talented young historian.
Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power
by Niall FergusonThe British Empire was the largest in all history: the nearest thing to world domination ever achieved. By the eve of World War II, around a quarter of the world's land surface was under some form of British rule. Yet for today's generation, the British Empire seems a Victorian irrelevance. The time is ripe for a reappraisal, and in Empire, Niall Ferguson boldly recasts the British Empire as one of the world's greatest modernizing forces. An important new work of synthesis and revision, Empire argues that the world we know today is in large measure the product of Britain's Age of Empire. The spread of capitalism, the communications revolution, the notion of humanitarianism, and the institutions of parliamentary democracy-all these can be traced back to the extraordinary expansion of Britain's economy, population, and culture from the seventeenth century until the mid-twentieth. On a vast and vividly colored canvas, Empire shows how the British Empire acted as midwife to modernity. Displaying the originality and rigor that have made him the brightest light among British historians, Ferguson shows that the story of the Empire is pregnant with lessons for today-in particular for the United States as it stands on the brink of a new era of imperial power, based once again on economic and military supremacy. A dazzling tour de force, Empire is a remarkable reappraisal of the prizes and pitfalls of global empire.