The New Imperial Histories Reader

In recent years, imperial history has experienced a newfound vigour, dynamism and diversity. There has been an explosion of new work in the field, which has been driven into even greater prominence by contemporary world events. However, this resurgence has brought with it disputes between those who are labelled as exponents of a ‘new imperial history’ and those who can, by default, be termed old imperial historians. This collection not only gathers together some of the most important, influential and controversial work which has come to be labelled ‘new imperial history’, but also presents key examples of innovative recent writing across the broader fields of imperial and colonial studies. This book is the perfect companion for any student interested in empires and global history.

In 1991 the Soviet empire collapsed, at a stroke throwing the certainties of the Cold War world into flux. Yet despite the dramatic end of this 'last empire', the idea of empire is still alive and well, its language and concepts feeding into public debate and academic research. Bringing together a multidisciplinary and international group of authors to study Soviet society and culture through the categories empire and space, this collection demonstrates the enduring legacy of empire with regard to Russia, whose history has been marked by a particularly close and ambiguous relationship between nation and empire building, and between national and imperial identities. Parallel with this discussion of empire, the volume also highlights the centrality of geographical space and spatial imaginings in Russian and Soviet intellectual traditions and social practices; underlining how Russia's vast geographical dimensions have profoundly informed Russia's state and nation building, both in practice and concept. Combining concepts of space and empire, the collection offers a reconsideration of Soviet imperial legacy by studying its cultural and societal underpinnings from previously unexplored perspectives. In so doing it provides a reconceptualization of the theoretical and methodological foundations of contemporary imperial and spatial studies, through the example of the experience provided by Soviet society and culture.

Taking a broad, comparative approach to imperial experiences, this volume provides an authoritative survey of the latest research into the histories of modern empires. The focus is on the era of modern imperial history dating approximately from the early sixteenth century to the present. Such a periodization enables the volume to include the European experience of imperial expansion and settlement, important historical experiences outside the west such as those of Russia, Japan and China, the collapse of European empires attendant on decolonization in the post World War II period, and the contemporary example of North America. The companion is divided into three sections, 'Times', 'Spaces' and 'Themes' which allows chronological, geographical and thematical approaches to be successfully combined. In so doing this volume provides a unique research tool that will be invaluable to all students and scholars interested in the history of empires, imperialism and colonialism in the post-classical world.

This book offers diverse and original perspectives on South Asia’s imperial military history. Unlike prevailing studies, the chapters in the volume emphasize both the vital role of culture in framing imperial military practice and the multiple cultural effects of colonial military service and engagements. The volume spans from the early East India Company period through to the Second World War and India’s independence, exploring themes such as the military in the field and at leisure, as well as examining the effects of imperial deployments in South Asia and across the British Empire. Drawing extensively on new archival research, the book integrates previously disparate accounts of imperial military history and raises new questions about culture and operational practice in the colonial Indian Army. This work will be of interest to scholars and researchers of modern South Asian history, war and strategic studies, military history, the British Empire, as well as politics and international relations.

This book recasts one of the most well-studied and popularly-beloved eras in history: the tumultuous span from the 1485 accession of Henry VII to the 1603 death of Elizabeth I. Though many have gravitated toward this period for its high drama and national importance, the book offers a new narrative by focusing on another facet of the British past that has exercised an equally powerful grip on audiences: imperialism. It argues that the sixteenth century was pivotal to the making of both Britain and the British Empire. Unearthing over a century of theorizing about and probing into the world beyond England’s borders, Tudor Empire shows that foreign enterprise at once mirrored, responded to, and provoked domestic politics and culture, while decisively shaping the Atlantic World. Demonstrating that territorial expansion abroad and national consolidation and identity formation at home were concurrent, intertwined, and mutually reinforcing, the author examines some of the earliest ventures undertaken by the crown and its subjects in France, Scotland, Ireland, and the Americas. Tudor Empire is a thought-provoking, essential read for those interested in the Tudors and the British Empire that they helped create.

First title of the new series Work in Global and Historical Perspective that introduces the conceptual approach towards the field of global labour history through a collection of essays chosen by the editors.

Colonial Formations highlights the critical importance of colonial dynamics at the so-called peripheries of the British Empire. With a focus on the Australasian settler colonies, the Pacific, India, and China, it examines colonised peoples’ subjectivities, mobilities and networks, through accounts of labour, law, education and activism. Decentring the British metropole, while shedding light on its enduring power, contributors chart the vast array of mobilities and connections that shaped these dynamics. They illuminate contexts and experiences of labour, education, touring, courtrooms and anticolonial struggles. Many attend to questions of colonial belonging and its limits – within cultures of sociability – or citizenship and its attendant benefits and rights. The chapters show how colonised peoples, both Indigenous and ‘coloured’ migrants, critiqued and mobilised to challenge imposed strictures on their life possibilities, whether in individual colonies, in cross-colonial networks or across the imperial arena. In doing so, this collection offers new insights into the interplay of place, mobility and power, and on the critical importance of colonial formations. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal History Australia.

This book provides a concise overview of the British Empire from its origins in the early nineteenth century, to its climax at mid-century, to its denouement on the eve of World War I. Considering the impact of imperial rule on subject peoples, Parsons explores the themes of cross-cultural social and environmental interaction from a world history perspective.