The Routledge History of Western Empires
Edited by Robert Aldrich, Kirsten McKenzie
To Be Published November 25th 2013 by Routledge – 608 pages
Series: Routledge Histories
Description
The Routledge History of Western Empires is an all new volume focusing on the history of Western Empires in a comparative and thematic perspective. Comprising of thirty-three original chapters arranged in eight thematic sections, the book explores European overseas expansion from the Age of Discovery to the Age of Decolonisation.
Studies by both well-known historians and new scholars offer fresh, accessible perspectives on a multitude of themes ranging from colonialism in the Arctic to the scramble for the coral sea, from attitudes to the environment in the East Indies to plans for colonial settlement in Australasia. Chapters examine colonial attitudes towards poisonous animals and the history of colonial medicine, evangelisaton in Africa and Oceania, colonial recreation in the tropics and the tragedy of the slave trade.
The Routledge History of Western Empires ranges over five centuries and crosses continents and oceans highlighting transnational and cross-cultural links in the imperial world and underscoring connections between colonial history and world history. Through lively and engaging case studies, contributors not only weigh in on historiographical debates on themes such as human rights, religion and empire, and the ‘taproots’ of imperialism, but also illustrate the various approaches to the writing of colonial history. A vital contribution to the field.
Reviews
This is a refreshingly original collection shedding new light on how western colonialism powerfully shaped the modern world. Both students and seasoned specialists will find it an excellent inroad into what is now one of the most innovative areas of historical scholarship. Themes are illustrated in both pithy overviews and new case studies ranging from the Arctic to Australia and Istanbul to India. Scholarly arguments abound but are always underpinned with experiences from the lives of often forgotten men and women, making this both a guidebook of Baedeker quality and a cracking good read.
Nigel Worden, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Contents
Introduction: Why Empire? Robert Aldrich/Kirsten McKenzie Part 1: The Imperial Project, Ideas of Empire 1. Pax Romana Transposed: Rome as an Exemplar for Western Imperialisms Patricia Lorcin 2. Conquest and Creation of New Empires. Spanish-Indian Encounters Felix Hinz 3. Liberty and empire in age of revolution (Atlantic/Pacific) Kate Fullagar 4. The Theory and Practice of Systematic Colonization Tony Ballantyne 5. Violence and Empire: The Curious Case of Belgium and the Congo Matthew G. Stanard 6. Geopolitical rivalries and ‘new imperialism’ of 1800s Mark Choate 7. Empires and the Making of Modern Greeks: Diaspora, Transnational Networks and Memory Nicholas Doumanis 8. Colonialism in Palestine: Science, Religion and the Western Appropriation of the Dead Sea, c. 1806-1930 Jacob Norris Part 2: Regions of Empire 9. Empire in the Atlantic World 1492-1888 Trevor Burnard 10. The Portuguese and the Indian Ocean World Jorge Flores 11. Empires of the Coral Sea Clive Moore 12. Empire at the Floe Edge: Western Empires and Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic, c. 1820-1900 Annaliese Jacobs 13. Place, space and historiography Alan Lester Part 3: People of Empire 14. Convict labour and the Western Empires, 1415-1954 Hamish Maxwell-Stewart 15. Native Women of the Americas in Power 1750-1930 Blanca Tovias 16. The Making of the Coloniale under the Third Republic Marie-Paule Ha 17. Imperial Security and the European Military Profession, ca. 1850-1914 Christoph Kamissek 18. Flying the Flag: Western navies and cultural imperialism in the late nineteenth-century Pacific Cindy McCreery 19. métis Emmanuelle Saada Part 4: Imperial Sciences 20. exploration and Swedish East India Company Christina Skott 21. Imperial Science or the Republic of (Poison) Letters? Venomous Animals, Intercolonial Exchange and National Identity Peter Hobbins 22. Health and Medicine in Colonial EmpiresLaurence Monnais/Hans Pols 23. Environment and Empire in the Tropics: Conservation, Exploitation and Colonial Culture in the Netherlands Indies, c. 1800–1949 Susie Protschky 24. Anthropology and the British Empire Martin Thomas 25. Colonial sciences Pierre Singaravélou to Part 5. Imperial Culture 26. Religion and Empire in the South Seas John Gascoigne 27. British Missions and Missionaries in the High Imperial Era, ca. 1850-1914 Jason Bruner 28. Empire and city: the imperial presence in urban India Jim Masselos 29. Art and Orientalism in the Ottoman Empire Mary Roberts 30. Sites and Forms of Leisure and Power Eric Jennings 31. Football and Empire John Connell Part 6: Decolonisation and After 32. Human Rights, Colonialism, and Anti-Colonialism Roland Bourke 33. Resisting Decolonization: The Politics of Empire in Post-War France Martin C. Thomas 34. Decolonisation in North Africa Martin Evans 35. Migration at the End of Empire Laurence Brown Epilogue/Commentary Antoinette Burton
Author Bio
Robert Aldrich is Professor of European History at the University of Sydney. He is the author of Vestiges of the Colonial Empire in France: Museums, Monuments and Colonial Memories (2005) and Gay Life Stories (2012) and editor of The Age of Empires (2007).
Kirsten Mckenzie is Associate Professor of History at the University of Sydney. She is the author of Scandal in the Colonies: Sydney and Cape Town, 1820 – 1850 (2004) and A Swindler’s Progress: Nobles and Convicts in the Age of Liberty (2009).
Name: The Routledge History of Western Empires (Hardback) – Routledge
Description: Edited by Robert Aldrich, Kirsten McKenzie. The Routledge History of Western Empires is an all new volume focusing on the history of Western Empires in a comparative and thematic perspective. Comprising of thirty-three original chapters arranged in eight thematic sections, the book explores...
Categories: World/International History, Imperial & Colonial History, Social & Cultural History, Political History, History, European History