Synopses & Reviews
A rich collection of primary materials, the multivolume
Archives of Empire provides a documentary history of nineteenth-century British imperialism from the Indian subcontinent to the Suez Canal to southernmost Africa. Barbara Harlow and Mia Carter have carefully selected a diverse range of texts that track the debates over imperialism in the ranks of the military, the corridors of political power, the lobbies of missionary organizations, the halls of royal geographic and ethnographic societies, the boardrooms of trading companies, the editorial offices of major newspapers, and far-flung parts of the empire itself. Focusing on a particular region and historical period, each volume in
Archives of Empire is organized into sections preceded by brief introductions. Documents including mercantile company charters, parliamentary records, explorersandrsquo; accounts, and political cartoons are complemented by timelines, maps, and bibligraphies. Unique resources for teachers and students, these volumes reveal the complexities of nineteenth-century colonialism and emphasize its enduring relevance to the andldquo;global marketsandrdquo; of the twenty-first century.
While focusing on the expansion of the British Empire, The Scramble for Africa illuminates the intense nineteenth-century contest among European nations over Africaandrsquo;s land, people, and resources. Highlighting the 1885 Berlin Conference in which Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, and Italy partitioned Africa among themselves, this collection follows British conflicts with other nations over different regions as well as its eventual challenge to Leopold of Belgiumandrsquo;s rule of the Congo. The reports, speeches, treatises, proclamations, letters, and cartoons assembled here include works by Henry M. Stanley, David Livingstone, Joseph Conrad, G. W. F. Hegel, Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, and Arthur Conan Doyle. A number of pieces highlight the proliferation of companies chartered to pursue Africaandrsquo;s gold, diamonds, and oilandmdash;particularly Cecil J. Rhodesandrsquo;s British South Africa Company and Frederick Lugardandrsquo;s Royal Niger Company. Other documents describe debacles on the continentandmdash;such as the defeat of General Gordon in Khartoum and the Anglo-Boer Warandmdash;and the criticism of imperial maneuvers by proto-human rights activists including George Washington Williams, Mark Twain, Olive Schreiner, and E.D. Morel.
Review
andldquo;Archives of Empire offers a valuable and original intervention in contemporary studies of imperialism, providing a rich array of source material pertaining to the imperial project and the wide-ranging grounds for its critique.andrdquo;andmdash;Anne McClintock, author of Imperial Leather: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest
Review
andldquo;Archives of Empire is a substantial and valuable project containing a generous sampling of key primary texts for understanding both the crucial events in and the debates around British imperialism in the nineteenth century.andrdquo;andmdash;David Lloyd, coeditor of The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital
Synopsis
A rich collection of primary materials, the multivolume"
Synopsis
A collection of original writings and documents from British colonialism in Africa.
About the Author
“Archives of Empire offers a valuable and original intervention in contemporary studies of imperialism, providing a rich array of source material pertaining to the imperial project and the wide-ranging grounds for its critique.”—Anne McClintock, author of Imperial Leather: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest“Archives of Empire is a substantial and valuable project containing a generous sampling of key primary texts for understanding both the crucial events in and the debates around British imperialism in the nineteenth century.”—David Lloyd, coeditor of The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital