Synopses & Reviews
Where should we situate the British Empire in the larger picture of world history? This fifth and final volume of
The Oxford History of the British Empire shows how opinions have changed dramatically from one generation to the next on the nature and role of imperialism generally, and the British Empire more specifically.
In these pages, a distinguished team of scholarly contributors discuss the many and diverse elements that have influenced writings on the Empire. Topics in this vein include the pressure of current events, access to primary sources, the creation of relevant university chairs, the rise of nationalism in former colonies, decolonization, and the Cold War. The chapters aim to demonstrate how the study of empire has evolved from a narrow focus on constitutional issues to a wide-ranging, multi-faceted analysis of international relations, the uses of power, and the influences and counter-influences between settler groups and indigenous peoples. The result is a thought-provoking cultural and intellectual inquiry into our understanding of the past.
About the Series:
The Oxford History of the British Empire is a major new assessment of the Empire in the light of recent scholarship and the progressive opening of historical records. It deals with the interaction of British and non-western societies from the Elizabethan era to the late twentieth century, provides a balanced treatment of the ruled as well as the rulers, and takes into account the significance of the Empire for the peoples of the British Isles. All five of the volumes in this series fully explore economic and social as well as political trends.
Review
"...scholars and future students of the British Empire will find this volume an indispensable guide."--Choice
Review
"Magnificent...Taken together, these books constitute an extraordinary feat of organization and scholarship, and they provide the authoritative history of the British Empire for our generation, and the essential starting point of the re-writing of that history which will take place in the next generation. Opinions differ about the British Empire; there can be no disagreement about this superb history of it." --David Cannadine in The Times Literary Supplement
"The Oxford History of the British Empire will take many years to be digested. In the meantime, its five volumes will gather little dust on library shelves. Those fortunate enough to have these books in their own library will possess a valuable publication that recommends new approaches and raises new questions about one of the greatest cultural and technological transfers that has taken place in the world during the past half millennium." --The Historian
Synopsis
Where should we situate the British Empire in the larger picture of world history? This fifth and final volume of
The Oxford History of the British Empire shows how opinions have changed dramatically from one generation to the next on the nature and role of imperialism generally, and the British Empire more specifically.
In these pages, a distinguished team of scholarly contributors discuss the many and diverse elements that have influenced writings on the Empire. Topics in this vein include the pressure of current events, access to primary sources, the creation of relevant university chairs, the rise of nationalism in former colonies, decolonization, and the Cold War. The chapters aim to demonstrate how the study of empire has evolved from a narrow focus on constitutional issues to a wide-ranging, multi-faceted analysis of international relations, the uses of power, and the influences and counter-influences between settler groups and indigenous peoples. The result is a thought-provoking cultural and intellectual inquiry into our understanding of the past.
About the Series:
The Oxford History of the British Empire is a major new assessment of the Empire in the light of recent scholarship and the progressive opening of historical records. It deals with the interaction of British and non-western societies from the Elizabethan era to the late twentieth century, provides a balanced treatment of the ruled as well as the rulers, and takes into account the significance of the Empire for the peoples of the British Isles. All five of the volumes in this series fully explore economic and social as well as political trends.
About the Author
Robin Winks is Randolph W. Townsend Professor of History at Yale University.
Wm. Roger Louis is Kerr Professor of English History and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin.
Table of Contents
List of Contributors
1. Introduction
n 2 The First British Empire
3. The Second British Empire
4. British North America in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
5. The American Revolution
6. Ireland
7. The British West Indies
8. Canada and the Empire
9. Australia and the Empire
10. Colonization and History in New Zealand
11. India to 1858
12. India, 1858-1937
13. India in the 1940s
14. Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
15. Pakistan's Emergence
16. Science, Medicine, and the British Empire
17. Disease, Diet, and Gender: Late Twentieth-Century Critical Perspective on Empire
18. Exploration and Empire
19. Missions and Empire
20. Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Abolition
21. The Royal Navy and the British Empire
22. Imperial Defence
23. The Empire-Commonwealth and the Two World Wars
24. Imperial Flotsam? The British in the Pacific Islands
25. Formal and Informal Empire in East Asia
26. The British Empire in South-East Asia
27. Formal and Imformal Empire in the Middle East
28. Informal Empire in Latin America
29. Britain and the Scramble for Africa
30. The British Empire in Tropical Africa: A Review of the Literature to the 1960s
31. West Africa
32. East Africa: Metropolitan Action and Local Initiative
33. Central and Southern Africa
34. Decolonization and the End of Empire
35. The Commonwealth
36. Art and Empire
37. Architecture in the British Empire
38. Orients and Occidents: Colonial Discourse Theory and the Historiography of the British Empire
39. The Shaping of Imperial History
40. The Future of Imperial History
41. The Way Forward
Chronology, Index