Colonialism and imperialism Books

Book SynopsisA vital feminist manifesto from one of our most inspiring political voicesTrade Review'A vibrant and compelling framework for feminism in our times' -- Judith Butler‘Powerfully outlines the reasons why mainstream feminism has been failing and excluding women of colour since its conception’ -- Hanna Bechiche, gal-dem'Brilliant' -- Lola Olufemi, author of 'Feminism, Interrupted' (Pluto, 2020)'Anchored in a deep commitment to justice and liberation, Vergès’s writing encourages us to open our minds and think with our hearts about the many ways the world oppresses and destroys, and about the things that are done, everyday and everywhere, to resist this and make it otherwise' -- 'Bad Form''A powerful tool of social transformation' -- Djamila Ribeiro, Brazilian human rights activist and author of 'Nos, Madelenas: uma palavra pelo feminism' (Fonte, 2012)‘Incisive… an invitation to reconnect with the utopian power of feminism’ -- Aurelien Maignant, 'Fabula'‘A powerful work’ -- 'Les Inrocks''Develops a critical perspective on feminism to reconsider the conditions of possibility and purpose… resituates feminism in a truly political, emancipatory and critical dimension’ -- Jean-Philippe Cazier, 'Diacritik''Essential for highlighting the current divisions within feminist political agendas, and for collective reflection on a profound, radical transformation of society… Necessary reading.' -- 'Axelle n°219''A feminist narrative of how decolonization is a never-ending struggle!' -- Veronica Gago, co-author of 'A Feminist Reading of Debt' (Pluto, 2021)Table of ContentsPreface Translator’s Introduction Introduction: Invisible, They “Open the City” 1. Taking Sides: Decolonial Feminism 2. The Evolution towards Twenty-First Century - Civilizational Feminism Notes Index

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Book SynopsisFollowing Rivers of Gold and The Golden Age, World Without End is the conclusion of a magisterial three-volume history of the Spanish Empire by Hugh Thomas, its foremost worldwide authorityWorld Without End is the climax of Hugh Thomas''s great history of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. It describes the conquest of Paraguay and the River Plate, of the Yucatan in Mexico, the only partial conquest of Chile, and battles with the French over Florida, and then, in the 1580s, the extraordinary projection of Spanish power across the Pacific to conquer the Philippines. More significantly, it describes how the Spanish ran the greatest empire the world had seen since Rome - as well as conquistadores, the book is people with viceroys, judges, nobles, bishops, inquisitors and administrators of many different kinds, often in conflict with one another, seeking to organise the native populations into towns, to build cathedrals, hospitals and universities. Behind them - sometimes ahead of them - came the religious orders, the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and finally the Jesuits, builders of convents and monasteries, many of them of astonishing beauty, and reminders of the pervasiveness of religion and the self-confidence of the age.Towering above them all, though moving rarely from the palace of the Escorial outside Madrid, is the figure of King Philip II, the central figure in the book. The Venetian ambassador thought him ''the arbiter of the world''. Once the Philippines had been consolidated, Philip''s advisors contemplated an invasion of China: the Jesuit Father Sanchez called it ''the greatest enterprise which has ever been proposed to any monarch in the world''. It was an enterprise never undertaken, but never explicitly abandoned.Was it a great or a terrible empire? In contrast to other empire builders, the Spaniards entered upon arguments with each other about their right to rule other peoples, and their ruthlessness was often tempered by humanity. Hugh Thomas''s conclusion is unequivocal: ''The speed with which the sixteenth-century conquistadores conquered such large territories on two vast continents, and the comparable success of missionaries with large populations of Indians, stands as one of the supreme epics of both valour and imagination by Europeans.''Trade ReviewThis is history as it used to be: adventurous men (and a few women), masses of action, little analysis but racy gossip and colourful scene setting. We could often be reading one of the tales the colonists themselves sent back -- Jeremy Treglown * Daily Telegraph *Literary power is a vital part of a great historian's armoury. As in his earlier books, Thomas demonstrates here that he has this in abundance. But equally important is [his] sense of perspective ... With all its flaws, Thomas argues, the Spanish Empire left an extraordinarily rich legacy -- Christopher Silvester * Financial Times *World Without End is full of illuminating detail, drawn from painstaking work * Economist *

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Book SynopsisNow fully updated to 2009, this acclaimed history of Latin America tells its turbulent story from Columbus to Chavez. Beginning with the Spanish and Portugese conquests of the New World, it takes in centuries of upheaval, revolution and modernization up to the present day, looking in detail at Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Cuba, and gives an overview of the cultural developments that have made Latin America a source of fascination for the world. 'A first-rate work of history ... His cool, scholarly gaze and synthesizing intelligence demystify a part of the world peculiarly prone to myth-making ... This book covers an enormous amount of ground, geographically and culturally' Tony Gould, Independent on SundayTable of ContentsThe Penguin History of Latin AmericaPrefacePart One: The Age of Empire1. Discovery and Conquest2. Indians and Iberians3. Spain in America4. The Spanish Indies5. Colonial BrazilPart Two: The Challenge of the Modern World6. Reform, Crisis and Independence7. The Quest for Order: Conservatives and Liberals in the Nineteenth Century8. 'Civilization and Barbarism': Literary and Cultural Developments IPart Three: The Twentieth Century9. Nationalism and Development: An Overview10. Mexico: Revolution and Stability11. Brazil: Order and Progress12. Cuba: Dependency, Nationalism and Revolution13. Argentina: The Long Decline14. Chile: Democracy, Revolution and Dictatorship15. Identity and Modernity: Literary and Cultural Developments IIPart Four: Towards a New Era16. Globalization and Reform: An OverviewStatistical AppendixFurther ReadingMapsGlossary of Key TermsIndex of SubjectsIndex of Names

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Book SynopsisBy long convention, American history began during the early seventeenth century along the Atlantic Seaboard with the English colonies at Jamestown in Virginia and Plymouth in New England. From that eastern origin, America supposedly expanded westward, reaching only the Appalachian mountains by the end of the colonial period. In this version of history, earlier Spanish and contemporary French settlements seemed irrelevant except as enemies that brought out the best in the English as they remade themselves into Americans. Indians appeared only as wild and primitive peoples engaged in an ultimately futile resistance to American destiny. And historians formerly treated African slaves in passing as unfortunate aberrations in a fundamentally upbeat story of Englishmen becoming freer and more prosperous by colonizing an abundant continent of free land. During the past generation, however, historians have broadened our understanding of colonial America by adopting both a trans-Atlantic and a trans-continental perspective, examining the interplay of Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the flows of goods, people, plants, animals, capital, and ideas. In this Very Short Introduction, Alan Taylor presents the current scholarly understanding of colonial America to a broader audience.American colonization derived from a global expansion of European exploration and commerce, beginning in the fifteenth century. In an Atlantic and global perspective, the English had to share the stage with the French, Spanish, Dutch, and Russians, each of whom created alternative Americas. By comparing the diverse colonies of rival empires, Taylor aims to recover what was truly distinctive about the English enterprise in North America. In particular, he intends to pay greater attention to slavery as central to the economy, culture, and political thought of the colonists and, by taking a Continental approach, to restore the importance of native peoples to the colonial story. To adapt to the new land, the colonists needed the expertise, guidance, alliance, and trade of the Indians who dominated the interior. The new historical approach emphasizes the ability of the diverse natives to adapt to the newcomers and to compel concessions from them.In sum, colonial America produced an unprecedented mixing of radically diverse peoples--African, European, and Indian--under stressful circumstances for all. The colonial intermingling of peoples,microbes, plants, and animals from different continents was unparalleled in speed and volume in global history. Everyone had to adjust to a new world of unpredictable social and cultural hybrids that compromised and complicated the ambitious plans of empire-builders.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Table of ContentsList of illustrations ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: Encounters ; Chapter 2: New Spain ; Chapter 3: New France ; Chapter 4: Chesapeake colonies ; Chapter 5: New England ; Chapter 6: West Indies and Carolina ; Chapter 7: British America ; Chapter 8: Empires ; Timeline ; Further reading ; Index

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2020 'A compelling read. Carys Davies has an amazing gift' Penelope Lively From the prize-winning author of West, a collision between old and new, east and west, in a former British hill station in South India. Fleeing the dark undercurrents of his life in Britain, Hilary Byrd takes refuge in Ooty, a hill station in South India. There he finds solace in life's simple pleasures, travelling by rickshaw around the small town with his driver Jamshed and staying in a mission house beside the local presbytery where the Padre and his adoptive daughter Priscilla have taken Hilary under their wing. As Hilary's friendship with the young woman grows, he begins to wonder whether his purpose lies in this new relationship. But religious and nationalist tensions are brewing and the mission house may not be the safe haven it seems... 'Brilliantly crafted' Daily Mail 'An absolute triumph' Cynan Jones 'Subtle with nuance and alive with immediacy' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewThe Mission House puts another genre, Raj fiction, to fresh purposes... The prevailing tone modulates between gentle humour and low-key poignancy... Subtle with nuance and alive with immediacy, again adroitly using small-scale effects to enlarge understanding and extend empathy, the resulting novel is a masterly achievement * Sunday Times *A novel about the pitfalls of human connection in contemporary India... Davies's use of [language] reveals an ear finely tuned to subcontinental peculiarities... The Mission House is an interesting take on a familiar trope: the westerner who finds in India deliverance from the wasteland of modernity * Guardian *Brilliantly crafted... Having subtly prepared the ground, Davies finally springs the jaws of her plot, revealing, heartbreakingly, to us and the tragically blinkered Hilary, what kind of story this really is * Daily Mail *A delicately political tale that keeps the real drama largely below the surface, leaving the reader to gauge the extent of the protagonist's self-deluding solipsism * Metro *The Mission House is an absolute triumph. That rare type of book - resoundingly tender, and gently heart-wrenching. Carys Davies doesn't drop a sentence. I was deeply moved, and spellbound -- Cynan JonesAn astonishingly assured and gripping piece of work and a worthy follow-up to WEST. Davies has a voice unlike any I've read: clean, otherworldly, eerily original, and capable of devastating effect -- Julie MyersonA compelling read. Carys Davies has an amazing gift for summoning up a place, a situation, the characters. Her skill is that of brevity, nailing a personality with a few lines of dialogue, saying most by saying least -- Penelope LivelyI felt, reading this extraordinary novel, that the thorough oddity of its chief characters, their strange innocence, amounts to a revolt, on our behalf too, against the stupidity, cruelty, fanaticism and bigoted violence of the world in which they more or less successfully live their eccentric lives -- David ConstantineCarys Davies' enthralling fictions carry us across time and continents, and bring interior worlds to life -- Clare MessudTender, playful, piercing, light-footed-this is an irresistible novel -- Michelle de KretserDavies weaves her story with brevity and to devastating effect, drawing a portrait of an odd group of lonely people struggling to find a connection in a changing world * Radio Times *A wonderfully written tale of subtle repetitions from multiple points of view set in India - it has the simplicity of fairy tale, the heft of fable and contains all the human sadness and joy of misfits -- Bernard MacLaverty

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Book SynopsisWestern governments and elites have supported the destruction of Gaza, silencing the Palestinians and those who speak on their behalf.Providing a record of the first six months of the war waged by the Israeli army after the 7 October attacks and drawing on a rich range of international sources, Didier Fassin examines how most Western governments have acquiesced in and often contributed to the destruction, by the Israeli army, of Gaza, its homes, infrastructures, hospitals, institutions of education, and civilian population. To justify their support and prevent criticism, they have provided an official version of the events, adopting the Israeli narrative. It was largely taken up by mainstream media, which ignored the experiences and perspectives of Palestinians. Dissenting voices were silenced. A policing of language and thought was imposed. Censorship and self-censorship became normalized. To call for a ceasefire or to demand the respect of humanitarian law was enough to prompt the ever-ready accusation of antisemitism. Exploring the multiple dimensions of the extreme inequality of lives between the two sides of the conflict and analyzing the complex geopolitical, economic and ideological stakes that underlie it, Fassin intends to constitute an archive of this moral abdication. In his view, the abandonment of the values and principles proclaimed by Western elites to be foundational will leave a deep scar in the history of the world.

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Book SynopsisV. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He came to England on a scholarship in 1950. He spent four years at University College, Oxford, and began to write, in London, in 1954. He pursued no other profession.His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971 he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State. His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.In 1990, V. S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature; in 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He lived with his wife Nadira and cat Augustus in Wiltshire, and died in 2018.

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Book SynopsisNiall Ferguson''s acclaimed bestseller on the highs and lows of Britain''s empireOnce 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''A remarkably readable précis of the whole British imperial story - triumphs, deceits, decencies, kindnesses, cruelties and all'' Jan Morris ''Empire is a pleasure to read and brims with insights and intelligence'' Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisJohn Prebble was born in the UK in 1915 but spent his boyhood in a predominantly Scottish township in Canada. He became a journalist in 1934 and went on to become an historian, novelist, film-writer and the author of several highly praised plays and dramatised documentaries for BBC TV and Radio. He died in January 2001.Trade ReviewPrebble describes this almost forgotten episode as a raw cross-section of human aspirations for freedom, noble in its inception, foolish, petty and shocking in its end... Prebble's canvas is immense, his characterisations excellently drawn * Publisher's Weekly *This is a welcome and long-overdue reissue of the late John Prebble's 1968 classic about Scotland's disastrous venture into creation of a trading colony... His writing is as compelling as are the salutary incidents he relates * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisRewriting the “origin stories” of the Anthropocene No geology is neutral, writes Kathryn Yusoff. Tracing the color line of the Anthropocene, A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None examines how the grammar of geology is foundational to establishing the extractive economies of subjective life and the earth under colonialism and slavery. Yusoff initiates a transdisciplinary conversation between feminist black theory, geography, and the earth sciences, addressing the politics of the Anthropocene within the context of race, materiality, deep time, and the afterlives of geology. Forerunners is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital works. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.Trade Review"A historically grounded and embodied understanding of geological transformation."—Antipode"A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None could be summed up as a new history of the relationship between geology and subjectivity. This is by no means a novel concern – pre-black conscious writers such as WEB du Bois, black conscious writers including Frantz Fanon and Steve Biko, and their contemporaries and successors, for example Sylvia Wynter, Achille Mbembe and Kathrine McKittrick, have all grappled with the complex human-citizenship-land question. What makes Kathryn Yusoff’s book different is that it addresses these questions via contemporary concerns about the Anthropocene, the name given to the new geological epoch. Unlike previous epochs, such as the Pleistocene, which was marked by climatological planetary impacts – in this case repeated glaciations, which is why it’s also called the Ice Age – the Anthropocene is marked by human interference."—New Frame"Black studies scholars and geographers interested in the environment and materiality alike are likely to find the text useful in asserting that a grammar of biopolitics cannot adequately account for the social history and present of Black people’s proximity to death, from the silver mines of sixteenth-century Potosí to the toxic environs of late-capitalist US urbanity."—ISLE"In steering away from specific dates, Yusoff engages with concepts of geologic time by connecting struggles for equity and justice with some of the foundational epistemologies that are normally used to connect historical and physical geology: uniformitarianism, the vastness of time, and the trade of time for location."—Nature Geoscience"Yusoff’s Billion Black Anthropocenes calls to mind this multitude of examples of colonialism and attendant resource exploitation, reminding us that the Anthropocene is simply the latest in a centuries-long string of world destructions enacted by western colonizers."—Inhabiting the Anthropocene "Yusoff’s A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None charts and unearths the grammar of geology as one that is foundational to and enabling of the extractive economies and histories of colonialism and slavery."—Eye on Design

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Book SynopsisThis study examines the ritual space of nineteenth-century royal tours of empire and the diverse array of historical actors who participated in them. It suggests that the varied responses to the royal tours of the nineteenth century demonstrate how a multi-centred British imperial culture was forged in the empire and was constantly made and remade, appropriated and contested. In this context, subjects of empire provincialised the British Isles, centring the colonies in their political and cultural constructions of empire, Britishness, citizenship and loyalty.Trade Review‘This publication, the author’s first full-length monograph, ably demonstrates some of the possibilities of a localised and biographical methodological approach to social and cultural analyses. It marks a solid contribution to present historical understanding of how local and nationalist identities are adapted within the ritualised framework of royal tours, themselves increasingly prominent within concurrent and swiftly expanding spheres of inter-disciplinary scholarship on imperialism in all its guises. Royal tourists, colonial subjects and the making of a British world, 1860–1911 will be of great relevance to scholars examining the overlapping spheres of Australasian, African and South Asian colonial and post-colonial politics within the continuing legacy of the British imperial world. I look forward to reading more of this author’s work.’ Laura Cook, The Australian National University, Royal Studies Journal 2017‘This account succeeds in revealing the long and storied past of the royal tour.’ Laura E.Nym Mayhall, The Catholic University of America, Victorian Studies (issue 60.1)Autumn 2017 -- .Table of ContentsPrologueIntroduction1 British royals at home with empire2 Naturalising British rule3 Building new Jerusalems: global Britishness and settler cultures in South Africa and New Zealand4 'Positively cosmopolitan': Britishness, respectability, and imperial citizenship5 The empire comes home: colonial subjects and the appeal for imperial justicePostscript and conclusionIndex

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Book SynopsisInsanity, identity and empire examines the formation of colonial social identities inside the institutions for the insane in Australia and New Zealand. Taking a large sample of patient records, it pays particular attention to gender, ethnicity and class as categories of analysis, reminding us of the varied journeys of immigrants to the colonies and of how and where they stopped, for different reasons, inside the social institutions of the period. It is about their stories of mobility, how these were told and produced inside institutions for the insane, and how, in the telling, colonial identities were asserted and formed. Having engaged with the structural imperatives of empire and with the varied imperial meanings of gender, sexuality and medicine, historians have considered the movements of travellers, migrants, military bodies and medical personnel, and ‘transnational lives’. This book examines an empire-wide discourse of ‘madness’ as part of this inquiry.Trade Review'Cathy Coleborne has written a splendid book, one that is especially welcome for its comparative focus, and for its efforts to give us a sense of mental patients' lives in two colonial societies. This is a meticulously researched monograph that is crisply written and full of wonderful details, the whole forming a splendid addition to the burgeoning literature on the history of colonial psychiatry.'Andrew Scull, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Science Studies, University of California, San Diego'Coleborne [has] added important dimensions to the history of insanity in Australia and New Zealand, but even more significant is the depth of insight these works offer historians of immigration. They deserve a wide readership.'Stephen Garton, University of Sydney, Australian Historical Studies47, no. 2‘Historians are yet to explore the discursive stretch of madness throughout the British Empire, writes Coleborne. This expansive monograph, bringing together scholarly fields to examine madness thematically at two settler sites of empire, is an important step towards this.’James Dunk, University of Sydney‘Insanity, Identity and Empire draws on and extends Coleborne’s previously published works about institutional confinement.’ Ann Westmore, University of Melbourne , Health and History 18/2‘The book adds to a growing body of historical literature on disability and madness and, in particular, research on migration, disability, and madness.’Natalie Spagnuolo, York University, Toronto, H-Disability (January 2018) -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: Insanity, identity and empire1. Insanity in the ‘age of mobility’: Melbourne and Auckland, 1850s–80s2. Immigrants, mental health and social institutions: Melbourne and Auckland, 1850s–90s3. Passing through: narrating patient identities in the colonial hospitals for the insane, 1873–19104. White men and weak masculinity: men in the public asylums, 1860s–1900s5. Insanity and white femininity: women in the public asylums, 1860s–1900s6. The ‘Others’: inscribing difference in colonial institutional settingsConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisStudies of colonialism and empire have increasingly drawn attention to the problem of conceptualizing the political logic of colonial projects and the circumstances of state formation in colonial contexts. However, the nature and workings of the colonial state remains under-theorized and under-analysed. This volume addresses the analytical challenges of the colonial state from a variety of theoretical and thematic angles, and across a range of empirical cases that stretch over a vast span historically and geographically, to provide a new approach to analyzing the colonial state and its governmental practices.Trade ReviewContributed by scholars from Europe and the US and based on papers given at a conference and workshop held at the U. of Copenhagen, Denmark, the nine essays in this collection consider the colonial state in the context of governmental practices, violence, and agency. They discuss different configurations of power in two colonies of the US (Puerto Rico and the Philippines), mechanisms of power in Denmark and the Danish colony of Tranquebar at the end of the 18th century, and governmental power in the slave society of the Danish West Indies in the late 18th century; violence in the 1950s in the Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique, the police force Landespolizei in the German colony of Southwest Africa, and violence in the relational processes of territorialization in Morocco and Libya; and the role of local agency in relation to reforms of the British colonial state that increased state capacity in Trinidad and Tobago and colonial governance in Samoa at the end of the 19th century under the shared control of German, British, and American officials. -- Annotation ©2017 * (protoview.com) *Table of ContentsRethinking the Colonial State: Configurations of Power, Violence, and Agency Colonial Governmentality in Puerto Rico and the Philippines: Sovereign Force, Governmental Rationality, and Disciplinary Institutions under US Rule Comparing the Colonial State – Governing ‘the Social’ and Policing the Population in Late 18th Century India and Denmark Governing the Risks of Slavery: State-Practice, Slave Law, and the Problem of Public Order in 18th Century Danish West Indies Ordering Resistance: The Late Colonial State in the Portuguese Empire (1940-1975) Violence as Usual: Everyday Police Work and the Colonial State in German Southwest Africa Colonial War and the Production of Territorialized State Space in North Africa Resistance and Reforms: The Role of Subaltern Agency in Colonial State Development Colonialism by Deferral: Samoa Under the Tridominium, 1889-1899

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Book Synopsis1900. For Tianjin’s European colonists a profitable new century is dawning, but for the city’s downtrodden Chinese natives the Zodiac cycle’s end signals imminent catastrophe. Meanwhile the fearsome Boxer warriors – said by some to be bulletproof – are spilling in from the provinces.On restless streets, a dangerous liaison begins. Ouyang Jue, gentle layabout and heir to a merchant fortune, finds himself entangled with Xénia, a French officer’s daughter indulging every impulse on her first visit to China. Each sees liberation in the other; a chance to leap through the mirror and escape the mundane.Separated by the widening divide between their two worlds, the lovers were never meant to be. But as discontent sparks into all-out conflagration, will they find paradise behind the glass? Or will they join the ashes of what might have been?

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Book SynopsisBritish rule in India caused millions of deaths, economic devastation, and cultural exploitation. The East India Company's ruthless tactics led to suffering and decline in GDP. Despite claims of benefits, the reality was a brutal and exploitative regime that harmed India in numerous ways.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Whitley Award for Best Natural History Book 2022A compelling, funny, first-hand account of Australia''s wonderfully unique mammals and how our perceptions impact their future. Think of a platypus: they lay eggs (that hatch into so-called platypups), they produce milk without nipples and venom without fangs and they can detect electricity. Or a wombat: their teeth never stop growing, they poo cubes and they defend themselves with reinforced rears. Platypuses, possums, wombats, echidnas, devils, kangaroos, quolls, dibblers, dunnarts, kowaris: Australia has some truly astonishing mammals with incredible, unfamiliar features. But how does the world regard these creatures? And what does that mean for their conservation?In Platypus Matters, naturalist Jack Ashby shares his love for these often-misunderstood animals. Informed by his own experiences meeting living marsupials and egg-laying mammals on fieldwork in Tasmania and mainland Australia, as well as his work with thousandsTrade Review‘Charming, informative … a marvellous read’ Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books ‘Ashby reveals marvellous creatures, and the mysteries and myths surrounding them’ BBC Wildlife magazine ‘Ashby’s spirited tour of the Australian bestiary is a revelation to readers unfamiliar with the intricacies of platypus biology, and unacquainted with nabarleks, dunnarts and other indigenous Australian fauna.’ Natural History ‘Building on his considerable scientific knowledge and decades of field experience, Ashby immerses readers in all things platypus … A must-read for any mammal nerd or Aussie wildlife enthusiast.’ Nature Conservancy's Cool Green Science ‘An engaging natural (and enraging colonial) history’ Washington Independent Review of Books ‘From platypuses and possums, through wombats, echidnas, devils and kangaroos, to quolls, dibblers, dunnarts and kowaris, Ashby knows them all; and he guides his readers on a tour of their lives, their evolutionary stories and the challenges they face in the modern world.’ The Well-read Naturalist ‘Fascinating … This is wonderfully dorky stuff … A persistently, defiantly upbeat book, downright infused with Ashby’s scientific exuberance’ Open Letters Review ‘Keen to overturn the warped, colonial perception that monotremes (e.g. platypuses and echidnas) and marsupials are more primitive than other mammal species, the zoologist author who runs Cambridge's Natural History Museum takes us on a tour of the fauna of Australia in all their glory …Engaging and entertaining’ Bookseller ‘This is a compelling, funny, firsthand account of our wonderfully unique mammals and how our perceptions of them impact their future.’ Australian Geographic ‘Ashby has an infectious enthusiasm for Aussie marsupials and monotremes’ West Australian ‘Written in a lively, conversational style and drawing on decades of fieldwork, this is a beguiling portrait of our unique fauna.’ Sydney Morning Herald

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Book Synopsis''Brisk and thoughtful, this book could hardly be more timely'' Dominic Sandbrook, BBC History Magazine, Books of the YearFrom a preeminent scholar of Eastern Europe and the prize-winning author of Chernobyl, the essential history of Russian imperialismIn 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and attempted to seize a portion of Ukraine. While the world watched in outrage, this violation of national sovereignty was in fact only the latest iteration of a centuries-long effort to expand Russian boundaries and create a pan-Russian nation. In Lost Kingdom, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues that we can only understand the merging of imperialism and nationalism in Russia today by delving into its history.Spanning over two thousand years, from the end of the Mongol rule to the present day, Plokhy shows how leaders from Ivan the Terrible to Joseph Stalin to Vladimir Putin have exploited existing forms of identity, warfare and territorial expansion to achieve imperial supremacy. A strikingly ambitious book, Lost Kingdom chronicles the long and belligerent history of Russia''s empire and nation-building quest.Trade ReviewLost Kingdom tells the story of how the history of Russia was being written when that history was being made. . . A singularly fascinating account of Russian nationalism through the ages -- Charles Clover * Financial Times *A sweeping study. . . Not merely an intellectual exercise but one closely linked to contemporary geostrategic debates * Wall Street Journal *Brisk and thoughtful, this book could hardly be more timely -- Dominic Sandbrook * BBC History Magazine *Lost Kingdom is an erudite exploration of the contradictions of Russian nationalism. . . A master historian on top of his game, Serhii Plokhy lays out the challenges this past presents for transforming Russia into a better country for its people and its neighbours -- Odd Arne Westad, author of The Cold War: A World HistoryIn Lost Kingdom, Serhii Plokhy does for Russia what only great historians can do-make the connections between the distant past and vital present feel relevant and alive. . . With Russia everywhere in the news today, and every pundit pretending to be an expert, Lost Kingdom is essential reading for those wishing to understand Russia beyond the headlines -- Garry Kasparov

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Book SynopsisWritten over a seven-year period to Charles V of Spain, Hernan Cortes's letters provide a narrative account of the conquest of Mexico from the founding of the coastal town of Veracruz until Cortes's journey to Honduras in 1525. The two introductions set the letters in context.Trade Review"[A] welcome re-issue of Anthony Pagden’s fine translation of Cortés’ Cartas De Relacion. . . . This edition is a model of how to present a sometimes difficult text to an English-speaking readership."—B.W. Ife, Times Higher Education Supplement"[The] definitive translation. . . . It adds up to one of the most fascinating Machiavellian documents to come out of the Renaissance."—Carlos Fuentes, The Guardian"The definitive edition [of the letters] in any language. . . . The book is a 'must' for all those who are seriously interested in this traumatic clash of civilisations and the consequences, both for good and ill, which ensued."—C.R. Boxer, English Historical Review"Ensures that the achievements and controversies of Hernan Cortés will have a source and a guide worthy of these extraordinary events."—John Lynch, Journal of Latin American Studies

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Book SynopsisThe State will not protect us from gender violence. Our feminism must be anti-racist and decolonial, and must fight for everyone's safetyTrade Review'In this robust, decolonial challenge to carceral feminism, Francoise Vergès elucidates why a structural approach to violence is needed. If we wish to understand how racial capitalism is linked to the proliferation of intimate and state violence directed at women and gender-nonconforming people, we need to look no further than Vergès' timely analysis' -- Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of California, Santa Cruz'A powerful and uncompromising text … A stunning reflection on the recurrence of assault – gender-based, sexual, racial violence' -- 'Terrafemina''An important and courageous book, which raises difficult questions and uncovers invisible structures of domination' -- 'Trou Noir''Vergès's incandescent writing casts a light on the global inequalities, brutal carceral systems, unfettered militarisation and punitive ideologies that shape violent intimacies' -- Laleh Khalili, Professor of International Politics, Queen Mary University of London'A call to join in the urgent decolonial feminist work of rethinking the practices of (so-called) protection outside of the logics of violence. We have the ability, Vergès insists, to enact a post violent society, to bring another world into being' -- Christina Sharpe, Canada Research Chair in Black Studies in the Humanities at York University, Toronto and author of 'In the Wake: On Blackness and Being''A road map of radical emancipatory imaginaries for shaping urgent social and political change. Vergès' arguments rise from the ground up, from the lived experience of grassroots dissent, action and mobilisation against the wounds and damages inflicted by extractive capitalism across the world' -- Rasha Salti, curator of art and film'Françoise Vergès asks a simple question: what actually is the politics of protection? What she reveals is a paradigm spinning analysis. Once she establishes the perspective of people without power, the 'protection' offered by the state and the meta-state of global capital, is exposed as a killing machine of enforcement and endless punishment. A door opening work' -- Sarah Schulman, author of 'The Gentrification of the Mind' and 'Let the Records Show: A Political History of ACT UP'‘Vergès’ book avoids both the trap of disavowing the feminist project entirely while refusing to ally herself with the destructive, ongoing elite capture of feminist politics ... the book performs a necessary cataloging function and offers an international perspective for English-language readers tempted toward American chauvinism in the fight against global racial capitalism’ -- ‘The New Inquiry’Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Neoliberal Violence 2. Race, Patriarchy, and the Politics of Women's Protection 3. Punitive Feminism, an Impasse Conclusion - For a Decolonial Feminist Politics Notes

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Book SynopsisYour life online is their product.In the past, colonialism was a landgrab of natural resources, exploitative labour and private property from countries around the world. It promised to modernise and civilise, but actually sought to control. It stole from native populations and made them sign contracts they didn't understand. It took resources just because they were there.Colonialism has not disappeared it has taken on a new form.In the new world order, data is the new oil. Big Tech companies are grabbing our most basic natural resources our data exploiting our labour and connections, and repackaging our information to control our views, track our movements, record our conversations and discriminate against us. Every time we unthinkingly click Accept' on Terms and Conditions, we allow our most personal information to kept indefinitely, repackaged by big Tech companies to control and exploit us for their own profit.In this searinTrade ReviewI wish that Data Grab was required reading when I was a graduate student working in the field of AI. Perspectives like these are crucial if we are to break the colonial paradigm that pervades computing disciplines -- Timnit Gebru, founder of the Distributed AI Research InstituteA blistering, vital exposure of the predatory world of data colonialism. In this vivid and passionately written book, Mejias and Couldry urge us to wake up to the invasive and extractive world of today’s Big Tech -- Mike Savage, author of 'Social Class in the 21st Century'Remarkable... Data Grab helps us understand that the historical and ongoing relations of power have extended to the realm of data, a new raw material of digital capitalism. Mejias and Couldry place us on a path to recognise, resist, and challenge these forces -- Dr Ramesh Srinivasan, Professor at the UCLA Department of Information Studies and Director of UC Digital Cultures LabAs in their previous work, Mejias and Couldry show how important it is to take the perspective of the colonized, not the colonizer, in explaining how the digital world is governed. Data Grab offers important insights into how we should analyse power and counter-power in terms of data control. I particularly recommend this book for providing examples of local and vocal initiatives across various continents. A true eye-opener -- José van Dijck, Distinguished Professor of Media and Digital Society, Utrecht UniversityIn this essential and original work, Mejias and Couldry lay out a powerful and persuasive analysis of the logical continuity between modern colonialism and the extraction of data by Big Tech and its platforms. Their call to resist data colonialism could not be more urgent or more timely -- Jeremy Gilbert, author of 'Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World' and 'Twenty-First Century Socialism'

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Book SynopsisA New Statesman Best Book of the Year 2023. A Waterstones Book of the Year 2023. An Economist Book of the Year. One of Smithsonian Magazine''s Ten Best History Books of 2023. A BBC History Magazine Book of the Year 2023. Winner of the Voltaire Medal.''An untold story of colonial history, both epic and intimate, and a thrilling revelation'' Adam Rutherford''Mind-blowing . . . this is how history should be told'' Benjamin ZephaniahIn this groundbreaking new history, Caroline Dodds Pennock recovers the long-marginalised stories of the Indigenous Americans who - as enslaved people, diplomats, explorers, servants and traders - left a profound impact on European civilisation in the ''Age of Discovery''. On Savage Shores is a sweeping account of power and influence in America and Europe - one which could forever change the way we understand our global history.Trade ReviewOn Savage Shores is a work of historical recovery . . . few books make as compelling a case for such a reimagining -- David Olusoga * GUARDIAN, Book of the Day *In On Savage Shores, Dodds Pennock has performed a monumental work of historical excavation. Beautifully written and painstakingly researched, this is first-rate scholarship -- Susannah Lipscomb * FINANCIAL TIMES *A thrilling, beautifully written and important book that changes how we look at transatlantic history, finally placing Indigenous peoples not on the side-lines but at the centre of the narrative. Highly recommended -- PETER FRANKOPANDodds Pennock's unpeeling of the indigenous experience from obscure manuscripts . . . is a much-needed and refreshing take on our all-too Eurocentric telling of the past -- Andrea Wulf * THE TIMES *Not only changes how we think about the first contact between America and Europe but also sets the methodological standard for a new way of understanding the origin of the modern world * NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS *On Savage Shores is mind-blowing, and it's an important contribution to struggle for a fair and more balanced telling of history - I felt genuinely enlightened. Dodds Pennock is a truth teller of the highest order, and a first class communicator. This is how history should be told -- BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAHOn Savage Shores offers a welcome non-Eurocentric narrative about how the great civilisations of the Americas discovered Europe . . . an important book * INDEPENDENT *An untold story of colonial history, both epic and intimate, and a thrilling revelation, not about the invasion of the Americas by Europeans, but the journeys of Indigenous people to Europe. Caroline Dodds Pennock is the perfect guide, cannily and eloquently shifting the axis of global history away from its Eurocentric grip -- ADAM RUTHERFORDCaroline Dodds Pennock's utterly original book is chock full of remarkable stories . . . there is much to enjoy in this unusual history of a forgotten corner of our past * DAILY MAIL *Deftly weaves diverse and fascinating tales of the exciting adventures, complex diplomatic missions, voyages of discovery, triumphant incursions, and heartbreaking exploitations - of the many thousands of Indigenous travellers to new lands. Essential reading for anyone interested in how the events of the "Age of Exploration" shaped the modern world -- JENNIFER RAFF, author of ORIGINInspiring and important . . . Expertly researched, convincingly argued, erudite yet readable, and introduces new readers to the reality of Indigenous American experience * HISTORY TODAY *Caroline Dodds Pennock offers a remarkably fresh and compelling account of the so-called Age of Discovery. Whether arriving as ambassadors or enslaved, these travellers experienced Europe as a new and disorienting world: a place of shocking violence and perplexing social norms. Pennock, a leading authority on Indigenous Mexico, tells their stories with insight and humanity. A must read -- BRETT RUSHFORTH, author of BONDS OF ALLIANCE: INDIGENOUS AND ATLANTIC SLAVERIES IN NEW FRANCEPennock has pieced together hundreds of fragments to create a new and remarkable portrait of the travellers who crossed the Atlantic not to the Americas but from them, and who found in Europe a strange, often hostile, sometimes intriguing society, vastly different from their own -- CATHERINE FLETCHER, author of THE BEAUTY AND THE TERROR[A] fascinating and fluidly written revisionist history . . . This innovative and powerful account breaks down long-standing historical assumptions * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY starred review *An impressive and consequential act of research and interpretation that consistently acknowledges the profound and ongoing . . . fissure caused to indigenous identities by colonisation, enslavement, violence and displacement. * GEOGRAPHICAL *As Caroline Dodds Pennock shows, there were many thousands of Native Americans in early modern Europe who have long been forgotten . . . an overdue diversion of attention towards people marginalised by race . . . Dodds Pennock's skilful method involves subtly layering European accounts -- Malcom Gaskill * LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS *Imaginative and passionately argued * Wall Street Journal *An excellent exploration of Indigenous presence in and contribution to Europe and nascent globalization. Pennock, by recognizing and voicing a space for Indigenous Peoples in Europe, has told a story that needs to form a part of every history class from grade school to university. On Savage Shores is an original and important recasting of sixteenth-century Europe . . . a decolonizing and un-whitening approach to the past * Anishinabek News *On Savage Shores not only changes how we think about the first contact between America and Europe but also sets the methodological standard for a new way of understanding the origin of the modern world. * New York review of Books *

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Book Synopsis''Witty, energising and refreshing'' Jeffrey BoakyeTake a step through the looking-glass to a strange land, one where Piers Morgan is a voice worth listening to about race, where white people buy self-help books to help them cope with their whiteness, where Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are seen by the majority of the population as ''the right (white) man for the job''. Perhaps you know it. All the inhabitants seem to be afflicted by serious delusions, for example that racism doesn''t exist and if it does it can be cured with a one-hour inclusion seminar, and bizarre collective hallucinations, like the widely held idea that Britain''s only role in slavery was to abolish it.But there is a serious side too. Society cannot face up to the racism at its heart and in its history, so the delusions, irrationalities and hallucinations it conjures up to avoid doing so can only best be described as a psychosis, with the costs being borne by the sons and daughters of that racist history. Living in a racist world is like living in a world that bears no resemblance to reality. Black and brown people suffer from a greater number of mental health difficulties too, caused in no small part by trying to survive a racist society.Kehinde Andrews is your piercing, wry and not a little funny guide back to sanity, unpicking the absurd and outrageous lies society tells to keep up the status quo. The Psychosis of Whiteness is your lifeboat out of this topsy-turvy world.

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Book SynopsisVladimir Lenin created this hugely significant Marxist text to explain fully the inevitable flaws and destructive power of Capitalism: that it would lead unavoidably to imperialism, monopolies and colonialism. He prophesied that those third world countries used merely as capitalist labour would have no choice but to join the Communist revolution in Russia. GREAT IDEAS. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHYA narrative of startling originality As discussions of Britain's colonial legacy become increasingly polarised, we are in ever more need of nuanced books like this one' SAM DALRYMPLE, SPECTATORRebels Against the Raj tells the little-known story of seven people who chose to struggle for a country other than their own: foreigners to India who across the late 19th to late 20th century arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence.Of the seven, four were British, two American, and one Irish. Four men, three women. Before and after being jailed or deported they did remarkable and pioneering work in a variety of fields: journalism, social reform, education, organic agriculture, environmentalism.This book tells their stories, each renegade motivated by idealism and genuine sacrifice; each connected to Gandhi, though some as acolytes where others found endless infuriation in his views; each understanding they woulTrade Review‘A narrative of startling originality … his excitement at discovering a forgotten chapter of Indian history is contagious … As discussions of Britain’s colonial legacy become increasingly polarised, we are in ever more need of nuanced books like this one’Sam Dalrymple, Spectator ‘Fascinating and provocative … Guha organises his material expertly and presents it clearly and stylishly, illuminating an aspect of Raj history which is often forgotten or neglected but which is nonetheless crucial for an understanding both of present-day India and of Britons’ complex and ambivalent past relationship to this ‘jewel’ in their collective crown. This superb book does them justice, as well as adding a new dimension to the histories both of subject India and of imperial Britain – and being a thoroughly good read’Literary Review ‘Guha has done well to remind us of these forgotten stories, all the more as India, like much of the world, is becoming more xenophobic and intolerant, believing all the virtues lie in national frontiers’Irish Times ‘Illuminating and engaging … Guha’s wide-ranging research and lucid narration brings to life these men and women … Rebels Against the Raj, however, makes a larger, more important and incisive point. Guha calls the lives and work of these rebels a morality tale for the world we now inhabit – a world incandescent with xenophobia and jingoism, and full of contempt for thoughts and ideas that a culture can imbibe from outside its borders’New Statesman ‘Eminently readable and dazzling … Painstakingly researched, this is history writing at its best. It is indeed a masterly study of hitherto neglected western figures of modern India and opens a new way of engaging with the complex fault-lines between nationalism and imperialism, between India and the West … Guha’s outstanding work … couldn’t be more relevant. Every Indian should read this book’The Tribune

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Book SynopsisIs America the new world empire? Presidents from Lincoln to Bush may have denied it but, as Niall Ferguson''s brilliant and provocative book shows, the US is in many ways the greatest imperial power of all time. What''s more, it always has been an empire, expanding westwards throughout the nineteenth century and rising to global dominance in the twentieth. But is today''s American colossus really equipped to play Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on its shoulders? The United States, Ferguson reveals, is an empire running on empty, weakened by chronic defecits of money, manpower and political will. When the New Rome falls, he warns, its collapse may come from within.''One of the timeliest and most topical books to have appeared in recent years'' Literary Review''Yet another tour de force from a writer who displays all his usual gifts of forceful polemic, unconventional intelligence and elegant prose ... guaranteed to spark fierce debate'' Trade ReviewColossus confirms Niall Ferguson's standing as one of the most incisive writers of history, politics and economics today * Sunday Telegraph *One of the timeliest and most topical books to have appeared in recent years * Literary Review *Yet another tour de force from a writer who displays all his usual gifts of forceful polemic, unconventional intelligence and elegant prose ... guaranteed to spark fierce debate * Irish Times *A bravura exploration of why Americans are not cut out to be imperialists but nonetheless have an empire. Vigorous, substantive, and worrying -- Timothy Garton Ash

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Book SynopsisKehinde Andrews is a crucial voice walking in a proud tradition of Black radical criticism and action AkalaAn uncompromising account of the roots of racism today Kimberlé Crenshaw This clear-eyed analysis insists upon the revolutionary acts of freedom we will need to break out of these systems of violence Ibram X. Kendi The New Age of Empire takes us back to the beginning of the European Empires, outlining the deliberate terror and suffering wrought during every stage of the expansion, and destroys the self-congratulatory myth that the West was founded on the three great revolutions of science, industry and politics. Instead, genocide, slavery and colonialism are the key foundation stones upon which the West was built, and we are still living under this system today: America is now at the helm, perpetuating global inequality through business, government, and institutions like the UN, the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. The West is rich because the Rest is poor. Capitalism is racism. The West congratulations itself on raising poverty by increments in the developing world while ignoring the fact that it created these conditions in the first place, and continues to perpetuate them. The Enlightenment, which underlies every part of our foundational philosophy today, was and is profoundly racist. This colonial logic was and is used to justify the ransacking of Black and brown bodies and their land. The fashionable solutions offered by the white Left in recent years fall far short of even beginning to tackle the West''s place at the helm of a racist global order. Offering no easy answers, The New Age of Empire is essential reading to understand our profoundly corrupt global system. A work of essential clarity, The New Age of Empire is a groundbreaking new blueprint for taking Black Radical thought into the twenty-first century and beyond.Trade ReviewKehinde Andrews shines a light on the truth of our past and in doing so lights the way forward. Essential reading -- Owen JonesAn uncompromising account of the roots of racism today -- Kimberlé CrenshawSkillfully interweaving economics, politics, and history to debunk popular narratives of social progress, this searing takedown hits home * Publisher's Weekly *Kehinde Andrews is a crucial voice walking in a proud tradition of Black radical criticism and action -- AkalaThis book is a provocation. It is not meant to make us comfortable or inspired, but rather to remind us of the hard truth that the West was built on slavery, genocide, and colonialism-the bases of racial capitalism and modern empire. And as Kehinde Andrews argues, we are still living this imperial nightmare, still reaping the consequences of contemporary racialized violence and exploitation. The lesson: no freedom under racism, no future under capitalism, no justice without decolonization. -- Robin KelleyProfessor Andrews takes the reader on a journey, and it isn't a comfortable one. I challenge you to pick up this book and read it carefully, once that is done, I am sure the reader will be challenged, in thinking and hopefully actions moving forward. -- Dawn ButlerThis book is a radical, necessary indictment of the racist structures that produced the current anti-Black world order. Historically rigorous and deeply researched, Kehinde Andrews writes with lucidity about the global tactics of Western imperialism, centuries ago and at present. His clear-eyed analysis insists upon the revolutionary acts of freedom we will need to break out of these systems of violence -- Ibram X. KendiProfessor Andrews never misses. And this is a compelling account of European Empires and the cost of their plunder -- Nikesh ShuklaUncompromising and intelligent. Kehinde is taking the conversation deeper and further - exactly where it needs to go. -- Jeffrey BoakyeDestined to serve as a kind of primary text for a new generation of students of antiracism looking to get to grips with the violence of our imperial inheritance * The Observer *

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Book SynopsisHobson-Jobson is a unique lexicon of British India. Part dictionary, part encyclopedia it shows how words of Indian origin entered the English language and offers insight into Victorian views of Asia and the way cultures transform one another. Quirky and entertaining, this selected edition includes a fascinating introduction and notes.Trade Review'Everyone interested in British India should have a copy.' * Andrew Robinson, The Independent *'Hobson-Jobson is a rare dictionary that can be read for pleasure' * Christopher Howse, Sunday Telegraph *'Teltscher's introduction to this new abridged edition is a model of scholarship and readability.' * Neel Mukherjee, Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisA series of interviews with Noam Chomsky, the world's greatest living public intellectual, about the pressing issues of our time'One of the greatest, most radical public thinkers of our time' Arundhati RoyIn this illuminating collection of interviews, Noam Chomsky shares his insights on the pressing challenges facing humanity. A Liveable Future is Possible addresses artificial intelligence and the potential for such programs to surpass humans in cognitive awareness; what lies ahead for a world engulfed in a deadly climate crisis; the rise of neo-fascism internationally, and why we should organize across borders to confront it and the striking similarities between Trump and Biden's foreign policies. Noam Chomsky has been an incomparable model of moral clarity and intellectual courage during his many decades as a scholar, political activist and social critic. A Liveable Future Is Possible is not only an urgent and informative book, it is a call-to-action for those hoping to help carry the torch of one of history's greatest minds. Chomsky is a global phenomenon . . . he may be the most widely read American voice on foreign policy on the planet' The New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisWhat were the cultural factors that held the British world together? How was Britishness understood at home, in the Empire, and in areas of informal British influence? This book makes the case for a ‘cultural British world’, and examines how it took shape in a wide range of locations, ranging from India to Jamaica, from Sierra Leone to Australia, and from south China to New Zealand. Eleven original essays explore a wide range of topics, including images of nakedness, humanitarianism, anti-slavery, literary criticism, travel narratives, and household possessions. The book argues that the debates around these issues, as well as the consumer culture associated with them, helped give the British world a sense of cohesion and identity. The cultural construction of the British world will be essential reading for historians of imperialism and globalisation, and includes contributions from some of the most prominent historians of British imperial and cultural history.Trade Review'This volume brings together some of the most eminent scholars of British imperial history, and provides a thought-provoking showcase for a range of innovative approaches to the cultural history of empire. The essays set new agendas for future research, and offer fascinating insights into the cultural connectedness of a once-British world.'Simon J. Potter, Reader in Modern History at the University of Bristol'"Culture" here knows no bounds. It hails politics, the popular, military, capital and the body – not simply to show their interconnections but to track the ways that empire itself both integrated and compartmentalised the terrains it aimed to colonise.'Antoinette Burton, Professor of History and Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies at the University of Illinois -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: The cultural construction of the British world – Barry Crosbie and Mark Hampton1. Naked natives and noble savages: the cultural work of nakedness in imperial Britain – Philippa Levine2. British radicals in Asia and the persistence of empire c.1820–1950 – C.A. Bayly3. Sugar wars: the culture of free trade versus the culture of antislavery in Britain and the British Caribbean, 1840–50 – Philip Harling4. At home in the Ottoman Empire: humanitarianism and the Victorian diplomat – Michelle Tusan5. A semi-exclusionary empire?: the use of British colonial ideals in Trinidad and Bengal – Martin J. Wiener6. The curious case of the chabutra-wallahs: Britons and Irish imperial culture in nineteenth-century India – Barry Crosbie7. Sorting out China: British accounts from pre-opium war Canton – John M. Carroll8. John Stuart Mill’s other island: the discourse of unbridled capitalism in post-war Hong Kong – Mark Hampton9. Scrutiny abroad: literary criticism and the colonial public – Christopher Hilliard10. Mr. Hickey’s pictures: Britons and their collectibles in late eighteenth-century India – Tillman Nechtman11. Material culture and Sierra Leone’s civilising mission in the nineteenth century – Bronwen EverillIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Age of Discovery was a time of exploration and developing new ideas, when Europeans first travelled across the seas to other lands. In his warm and expressive style, Charles Kovacs tells stories of key European historical figures, from the Crusades to the Renaissance, including Saladin, Joan of Arc, Columbus, Magellan, Queen Elizabeth I and Francis Drake, and draws out the interrelation of world events.This revised edition of a classic text is an engaging resource for teachers and home-schooling parents. This historical period is traditionally covered in Class 7 (age 13-14) of the Steiner-Waldorf curriculum.Trade Review'An excellent overview of world history, compiled from Charles Kovacs' copious lesson notes. Throughout, Kovacs is keen to convey to the reader the notion of cause and effect and the inter-relatedness of world events. Any teacher of the 13-year-old age group will find this book an excellent resource.'-- New View

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Book SynopsisA both controversial and comprehensive historical analysis of how the British Empire worked, from Wolfson Prize-winning author and historian John DarwinThe British Empire shaped the world in countless ways: repopulating continents, carving out nations, imposing its own language, technology and values. For perhaps two centuries its expansion and final collapse were the single largest determinant of historical events, and it remains surrounded by myth, misconception and controversy today.John Darwin's provocative and richly enjoyable book shows how diverse, contradictory and in many ways chaotic the British Empire really was, controlled by interests that were often at loggerheads, and as much driven on by others' weaknesses as by its own strength.Trade ReviewA breadth of perspective few other imperial historians can boast. The British Empire really does look different in the light of it ... Breadth of vision, fizzing ideas and a brilliant style as well as superb scholarship ... It deserves to supplant every other book on this topic, including - though my publisher and bank manager won't thank me for saying this - my own. It is British imperial history at last without hang-ups; the one we've been waiting for -- Bernard Potter * History Today *A brilliantly perceptive analysis of the forces and ideas that drove the creation of an extraordinary enterprise ... Bringing together his huge erudition, scrupulous fairness and elegant prose, Mr Darwin has produced a wonderfully stimulating account of something that today seems almost incredibly yet was, in historical terms, only yesterday. It is also a much-needed antidote both to the leftish consensus of the past 50 years that Britain's empire was unrelievedly awful ... and the recent triumphalist revisionism of more conservative historians * Economist *Engrossing ... What Darwin adds to this insight is a rare, wonderful capacity for comparison. Empire here is a jigsaw of dreams and anxieties, conquests and loss of faith ... Seeing the imperial experience in the round like this does gives us a clearer, more subtle appreciation of the range of power and violence at play. It raises the historical writing on empire to another level * BBC History Magazine *How incredibly refreshing it is when as distinguished an historian as John Darwin ... writes something as thoughtful, well-researched and persuasive as Unfinished Empire, which explains the half-millennium-long expansion of Britain across the globe in terms that genuinely make sense ... The author's deep familiarity with all the key sources of this vast subject allows him to pluck examples for his arguments from across the centuries and continents ... Best of all ... is the thought that Darwin's book might at long last herald the victory of the post-Marxist phase of imperial historiography, and not a moment too soon -- Andrew Roberts * Sunday Telegraph Book of the Week *Balanced, original and impressive ... Subtle ... intelligent * Literary Review *Comprehensive ... Darwin's erudition allows him to skirt around the narrow orthodoxies of apologist v critic and provide an insightful account of Britain's unlikely period of global hegemony * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisPerfect Victims is an urgent affirmation of the Palestinian condition of resistance and refusal-an ode to the steadfastness of a nation. Palestine is a microcosm of the world: on fire, stubborn, fragmented, dignified. While a settler colonial state continues to inflict devastating violence, fundamental truths are deliberately obscuredthe perpetrators are coddled while the victims are blamed and placed on trial. Why must Palestinians prove their humanity? And what are the implications of such an infuriatingly impossible task? With fearless prose and lyrical precision, Mohammed El-Kurd refuses a life spent in cross-examination. Rather than asking the oppressed to perform a perfect victimhood, El-Kurd asks friends and foes alike to look Palestinians in the eye, forgoing both deference and condemnation. How we see Palestine reveals how we see each other; how we see everything else. Masterfully combining candid testimony, history, and reportage, Perfect Victims presents a powerfully simple demand: dignity for the Palestinian.

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Book SynopsisThe seminal work that has redefined our understanding of colonialism and empire, with a preface by the author''Stimulating, elegant and pugnacious'' Observer''Magisterial'' Terry EagletonIn this highly-acclaimed work, Edward Said surveys the history and nature of Western attitudes towards the East, considering orientalism as a powerful European ideological creation - a way for writers, philosophers and colonial administrators to deal with the ''otherness'' of eastern culture, customs and beliefs. He traces this view through the writings of Homer, Nerval and Flaubert, Disraeli and Kipling, whose imaginative depictions have greatly contributed to the West''s romantic and exotic picture of the Orient. Drawing on his own experiences as an Arab Palestinian living in the West, Said examines how these ideas can be a reflection of European imperialism and racism. ''Beautifully patterned and passionately argued''New Statesman''Very exciting ... his case is not merely persuasive, but conclusive'' John Leonard, New York Times

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Book SynopsisCal Flyn was very proud when she discovered that her ancestor, Angus McMillan, had been a pioneer of colonial Australia. However, when she dug deeper, she began to question her pride. McMillan had not only cut tracks through the bush, but played a dark role in Australia''s bloody history.In 1837 Angus McMillan left the Scottish Highlands for the other side of the world. Cutting paths through the Australian frontier, he became a feted pioneer, to be forever mythologised in status and landmarks. He was also Cal Flyn's great-great-great-uncle. Inspired by his fame, Flyn followed in his footsteps to Australia, where she would face horrifying family secrets.Blending memoir, history and travel,Thicker Than Water' evokes the startlingly beautiful wilderness of the Highlands, the desolate bush of Victoria and the reverberations on one from the other. A tale of blood and bloodlines, it is a powerful, personal journey into dark family history, grief and guilt.Trade ReviewSummer Reads of 2016, GuardianBooks of the Year 2016, The Times ‘Stunning. ‘Thicker Than Water’ is a thrilling debut, a true story that reads like a classy, compelling fiction’ The Times ‘A moving and impressive debut’ Telegraph ‘Deftly captures the looking-glass world of the antipodean landscape … Her account is vivid with a sense of strangeness … ‘Thicker Than Water’ is, to borrow a word Australians use when dealing with anything unsettling, a “confronting” book’ Guardian ‘Intelligently and evocatively written’ Allan Massie, Scotsman 'A searing tale of adventure and (self) discovery that shows the past is nearer than we think. Flyn is a writer with a gimlet eye and a big heart' Ben Rawlence ‘Thicker Than Water combines memoir, history, travelogue and lyrical nature writing; a true story that reads like classy, page-turning fiction’ Melanie Read, The Times ‘An unflinchingly honest, profoundly moving memoir’ Herald

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.'When Charles Marlow agrees to captain a steamer up the Congo in search of the elusive ivory trader Mr Kurtz, it becomes a terrifying journey into both the unknown and his own subconscious. As he travels deeper and deeper into the dense jungle, he begins to sense the presence of this extraordinary and terrible man, and to question the horrifying realities of European imperialism and of human nature itself.Originally published as a three-part story in 1899, Conrad's masterpiece has inspired many further works, including Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, and remains a thought-provoking text to this day.

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Book SynopsisSara Wheeler's books include the international bestseller Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, of which the Telegraph reviewer wrote, I do not think there will ever be a better book on the Antarctic.' The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle, was chosen as Book of the Year by Will Self, Michael Palin, A. N. Wilson and others. She has published two biographies of travellers: Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, and Too Close to the Sun: The Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton, and was immensely relieved to write about women at last in O My America!. She lives in London.Trade ReviewA good story... a fitting memorial * Observer *A fascinating story of a man trying to outrun the social upheavals of the twentieth century * Herald *Wheeler has made excellent use of the sources at hand... Moreover, Wheeler writes well, and has a gift - shared by only very few - for pinning down the smells and atmosphere of the African landscape * Literary Review *She dazzles the reader with an evocation of time and place.. her description of the east Africa Campaign is detailed and enthralling -- Keith Dovkants * Scotsman *She writes beautifully, with a vivid turn of phrase, a sound grasp of history and an impish humour -- Andrew Lycett * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisIn the early nineteenth century China remained almost untouched by British and European powers - but as new technology started to change this balance, foreigners gathered like wolves around the weakening Qing Empire. Would the Chinese suffer the fate of much of the rest of the world, carved into pieces by Europeans? Or could they adapt rapidly enough to maintain their independence?This important and compelling book explains the roots of China''s complex relationship with the West by illuminating a dramatic, colourful and sometimes shocking period of the country''s history.Trade ReviewPowerful, astute and readable ... meticulously researched in contemporary English-language records and journals, and written with flair and feeling, its rhetoric eschews rant and is never misplaced -- John Keay * Literary Review *Compellingly erudite and clear-sighted history -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *At every airport bookshop, the business traveller is offered shelves of volumes that purport to tell us how an emerging, powerful China will deal with the world, and how the rest of us should make the most of the commercial opportunities opened up by its rise. Those who wish to understand these issues more closely might be better advised to read this fair and fascinating account -- Chris Patten * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisHe knew nothing of celestial navigation or of the existence of the Pacific Ocean. He was a self-promoting and ambitious entrepreneur. His maps were a hybrid of fantasy and delusion. When he did make land, he enslaved the populace he found, encouraged genocide, and polluted relations between peoples. He ended his career in near lunacy.But Columbus had one asset that made all the difference, an inborn sense of the sea, of wind and weather, and of selecting the optimal course to get from A to B. Laurence Bergreen''s energetic and bracing book gives the whole Columbus and most importantly, the whole of his career, not just the highlight of 1492. Columbus undertook three more voyages between 1494 and 1504, each designed to demonstrate that he could sail to China within a matter of weeks and convert those he found there to Christianity. By their conclusion, Columbus was broken in body and spirit, a hero undone by the tragic flaw of pride. If the first voyage illustrates the rewards of exploration, this book shows how the subsequent voyages illustrate the costs - political, moral, and economic.Trade Review"Laurence Bergreen's Columbus was brillliant, audacious, volatile, paranoid and ruthless. What emerges in this biography, a worthy addition to the literature on Columbus is a surprising and revealing portrait of a man who might have been the title charcater in a Shakespearan tradegy." — The New York Times"Laurence Bergreen's ambitious new biography, Columbus: The Four Voyages [is] a spellbinding epic that's simultaneiously a profoundly private portrait of the most complex, compelling, controversial creature ever to board a boat. This scrupulously researched, unbiased account of four death-defying journeys to The New World reveals the Admiral's paradoxical personality." — USA Today"A compelling new book [that] details the explorer's trips to the New World, including three you haven't heard about." — Salon"Once you have read this superb acount of Columbus' four voyages, you will never be content with the cliche about the Italian-born explorer's sailing the ocean blue in 1492. Author of many prize-winning popular history books on topics as diverse as Marco Polo and Al Capone. Laurence Bergreen is a New York-based scholar whose portrayal of the life and times of Christopher Columbus is a tour de force." — Winnipeg Free Press"Laurence Bergreen's new book, refreshingly, is fluid in style in its style and comprehensive in its research. Richly illustrated and enhanced with maps that are as legible as they are relevant. Columbus: The Four Voyages is complex in its themes, intriguing in its substance and sparkling with suprises." — The Washington Times"In this scrupulously fair and often thrilling account of his four vorages to the "New World," Bergreen reveals Columbus as brilliant, brave, adventurous, and deeply flawed . . . A superb reexamination of the character and career of a still controversial historical agent." — Booklist

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Book SynopsisParadise is Abdulrazak Gurnah's fourth novel, a beautiful story of African life.Trade ReviewMany layered, violent, beautiful and strange ... a poetic and vividly conjured book about Africa and the brooding power of the unknown * Independent on Sunday *An aural archive of a lost Africa ... Tangling travel adventures, social documentary, political indictment and a doomed love story ... Paradise is alive with the unexpected. In it, an obliterated world is enthrallingly retrieved * Sunday Times *Gurnah evokes his world in poetic prose which is pure and lucid - a small paradise in itself ... The pleasures, sadnesses and losses in all the shining facets of this book are lingering and exquisite * Guardian *Paradise is that rare thing, a novel that is totally convincing in the vivid physical world it presents, yet transcending that world and reaching into the universal. Folk tale, travel story, drama of love and loss, by turns touching and horrifying, it is a novel to be grateful for * Barry Unsworth *A gently meandering coming-of-age tale -- Michaela Wong * Spectator, Books of the Year *

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Book SynopsisMichael Mason is Director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, where he is also Associate Professor in Environmental Geography. He publishes on global environmental governance, politics and security. He is author of The New Accountability: Environmental Responsibility across Borders (2005) and Environmental Democracy (1999), co-author of Transparency in Global Environmental Governance (2014) and co-editor of Renewable Energy in the Middle East (2009).Muna Dajani is Research Officer at the Middle East Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. For over 9 years, she has worked in the fields of environment and development in Palestine, working with grassroots initiatives, NGOs, universities and governmental bodies. She received her PhD from the Department of Geography and Environment at LSE.Munir Fakher Eldin is Assistant Professor in Philosophy and CultTrade ReviewThe Untold Story of the Golan Heights is one of very few books about this region. But what distinguishes this volume is the fact that it is a collaborative endeavor authored by Jawlanis and their allies, thereby giving readers a chance to learn from the truest of experts. -- Lisa Hajjar, University of California – Santa Barbara, USATable of Contents1 Introduction: Representing the occupied Jawlan/Golan, Muna Dajani, Lancaster University, UK; Munir Fakher Eldin, Birzeit University, Palestine; and Michael Mason, LSE, UK I: EVERYDAY COLONIZATION Chapter 2: The Politics of Lifeworld Colonisation in the occupied Golan: Michael Mason, LSE, UK Reflection 1: The 1982 General Strike, Bassel Rizqallah, Birzeit University student, Palestine II: THE POLITICS OF THE GOVERNED Chapter 3: Mapping the Politics of the Governed among the Jawlanis: A Semiotic Approach, Munir Fakher Eldin, Birzeit University, Palestine Reflection 2: The occupied Syrian Golan and Birzeit University: A Story of Solidarity, Diaaeddin Horoub, journalist and researcher, Palestine Reflection 3: The occupied Syrian Golan Heights after 2011: The Constant and Variable, Aram Abu Saleh, Syrian writer and activist, occupied Syrian Jawlan III: THE POLITICS OF JAWLANI ART Chapter 4: Sculptures in Jawlani Public Places: Reflections on the Work of Identity, Wael Tarabieh, Jawlani artist, and Munir Fakher Eldin, Birzeit University, Palestine Reflection 4: The Jawlani Art and Cultural Scene, Abdel Qader Thweib, Birzeit University student, Palestine Reflection 5: The Role of Literature and Folk Music in Resisting Israelization of the Jawlan, Nadine Musallam, journalist IV: THE POLITICS OF JAWLANI YOUTH AND EDUCATION Chapter 5: Israeli Education Policies as a Tool for the Ethnic Manipulation of the Arab Druze, Amal Aun, independent researcher Reflection 6: How to Counter-map the Jawlani Lands: Visualizing Memory, Place and Identity, Jumanah Abbas, independent researcher Reflection 7: The Concept of ‘Jawlani Youth’: Between Colonial Policies and Society, Ali Aweidat, Syrian researcher and activist, occupied Syrian Jawlan V: A JAWLANI POLITICAL ECOLOGY Chapter 6: Being in Place: On the Jawlan Formation and Agroecological History of Highlands, Omar Tesdell, Birzeit University, Palestine, Muna Dajani, Lancaster University, UK; and Alaa Iktash, Palestinian researcher, Al Quds (Jerusalem) Reflection 8: From Jabal al-Shaykh to Mount Hermon Ski Resort, Alaa Iktash, Palestinian researcher, Al Quds (Jerusalem) 7 Conclusion: The Jawlan as Counter-Geography, Muna Dajani, Lancaster University, UK; Munir Fakher Eldin, Birzeit University, Palestine; and Michael Mason, LSE, UK

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Book SynopsisA journey through time and space, grappling with the ghosts of empireA New Statesman Book of the Year, 2021 ‘Follow Iain Sinclair into the cloud jungles of Peru and emerge questioning all that seemed so solid and immutable.’ Barry Miles From the award-winning author of The Last London and Lights Out for the Territory, a journey in the footsteps of our ancestors. Iain Sinclair and his daughter travel through Peru, guided by - and in reaction to - an ill-fated colonial expedition led by his great-grandfather. The family history of a displaced Scottish highlander fades into the brutal reality of a major land grab. The historic thirst for gold and the establishment of sprawling coffee plantations leave terrible wounds on virgin territory. In Sinclair’s haunting prose, no place escapes its past, and nor can we. ‘The Gold Machine is a trip, a psychoactive expeditTrade Review‘Follow Iain Sinclair into the cloud jungles of Peru and emerge questioning all that seemed so solid and immutable. The Gold Machine made me angry, sad, envious of Sinclair’s beautiful, evocative prose and grateful that I did not have to endure a soroche headache to gain a new understanding of colonial attitudes and the damage we have done.’ -- Barry Miles‘A glorious achievement, by turns drily humorous and darkly atmospheric.’ -- Ian Thomson, FT‘The Gold Machine is an intense negotiation with [Sinclair’s] ancestor… the driest of wit… Sinclair is incapable of writing a dull sentence, and his style in many ways reflects the hallucinatory nature of the tropics. I cannot think of many authors who can combine “sordid pilgrimage”, “manufactured myths” and “Jungian misdirection” in a single paragraph… The classic tropes of Sinclair’s work are all here, although transposed onto the Peruvian backdrop… The Gold Machine is a form of alchemy, and Sinclair is a wry sorcerer throughout.’ -- The Spectator‘The journey is richly imaginative, Sinclair’s mind sparkling with connections… The Gold Machine is a trip, a psychoactive expedition in compelling company. We finish it reeling slightly, and feeling grateful to have undertaken this journey without having to leave home.’ -- Miranda France, TLS‘Impeccably researched’ -- The New Yorker‘Other than Peter Ackroyd, nobody knows London better than Sinclair. Here, five decades into a distinguished writing career, he ventures farther afield, traveling to Peru on the trail of a Scottish ancestor who sought his fortune in coffee… Fans of travel literature will prize this shimmering account of a journey into the past.’ -- Kirkus, starred review‘In this magnificent book, Iain Sinclair and his daughter follow their culpable, intrepid ancestor into Peru, towards a coffee-black heart of colonial darkness. Of course the old man is looking for gold, and finding it, on every page, in every line. A sultry masterpiece.’ -- Alan Moore‘Marshalling his exceptional skills of social observation and narrative, Britain’s finest modern essayist Iain Sinclair strikes south in The Gold Machine… he conducts an elegiac dialogue between generations and sinks into the deep past.’ -- New Statesman, Books of the Year, 2021‘Sinclair’s discursive, intensely literate prose knits together time and place.’ -- Washington Post, Best travel books of 2021‘Swapping London for Lima, Hackney for Huancayo, in an unexpected departure from more familiar territory, The Gold Machine tracks a feverish descent into the darkness of Peru’s colonial past, as Sinclair follows in the footsteps of his nineteenth-century forbear. Written with his customary linguistic flair, this is a vivid and revealing addition to a unique body of work.’ -- Merlin Coverley, author of Psychogeography‘Excavator, outlier, alchemist. Sinclair’s formidable gaze turns backwards, forwards and touchingly inwards. A father–daughter pilgrimage to the rapids and along the bloodline: panning for salt, coffee, gold, misdeeds, consequences, presence, absence, family…and self. Disarmingly tender, generous and brimming. A book of wonder (noun and verb), from first word to last I was agog.’ -- Keggie Carew, author of Dadland‘Like Fitzcarraldo carrying a boat over mountains to fabulous worlds, Sinclair backpacks all the known legends, skeletons and lies, to tightrope a lurching dazzling bridge between generations. His, ours and those to come. Splendid in corruption. Wealthy in shock. This is the invaders' New Testament. Jamming gold coins in our eyes for lenses, leaving nothing to pay the boatman, because after this reads you, there is no place to go. A masterpiece.’ -- B. Catling, author of The Vorrh Trilogy‘Sinclair is the laureate of the peripatetic and The Gold Machine is his Heart of Darkness. It is the brilliantly written narrative of a long, dark journey into his own familial past. The magic begins on page 1 and continues to its end.’ -- Duncan Wu, Raymond A. Wagner Professor of Literature, Georgetown University‘Iain Sinclair remains the reigning ambassador from the kingdom of books, a fifty-year argument for the practice and legitimacy of writing. The Gold Machine extends the argument. Sinclair and his daughter travel to Peru and re-create the colonial expedition of his great-grandfather, pathways laid out in the forgotten ancestor’s published works. This is what the template has always been, will always be. Find an old book, absorb its secret message, go outside and destroy yourself in its service. Brilliant.’ -- Jarett Kobek, author of I Hate the Internet‘This is some of the best prose Sinclair has ever written – its poetic playfulness always in energetic tandem with razor-sharp observation. The book also transcends the genres you throw at it. It is a post-colonial essay haunted, if not deeply disturbed, by what the complex literary spirits of Conrad, Poe, Burroughs, Ginsberg and Ed Dorn bring to the party, a peripatetic séance in Amazonia often rudely interrupted by reality. This is an enthralling read.’ -- Paul Tickell, film-maker and journalist‘Ceylon, Australia and Peru, as well as Dundee, Maesteg and, of course, Hackney too. The Gold Machine thrusts a sharp and revealing probe into the not always leafy heartlands of Britain’s imperial past. Perfect reading for anyone keen to understand how this history continues to weigh on the present, and a prophetic last word for those Brexit-crazed champions of “unwoke” England who refuse to accept that it is over.’ -- Patrick Wright, Professor (emeritus) of Literature, History and Politics, King’s College London‘This book is further proof that, when he leaves London, Iain Sinclair’s gifts of observation expand to suit his subject. In The Gold Machine he follows the psychic and physical resonances of a visionary ancestor through the personal origin myth he has explored in poetry and prose all his life. Marshalling his exceptional skills of social observation and narrative, Britain’s finest modern essayist strides South. Travelling with his daughter Farne he conducts an elegiac dialogue between generations and sinks into the deep past, making profound associations, travelling back and forth in time through a rapidly changing Peru on the trail of the mysterious Arthur Sinclair.’ -- Michael Moorcock‘The physical journey begins in Lima; the intellectual voyage, as Sinclair devotees might guess, is serpentine… Prospective readers may wonder how this avowed Londoner gets on outside the M25. The answer is that he fares well… Sinclair fulfils his “unspoken obligation” to go to the Amazon with honesty and nerve… he has drawn attention to a predatory past that Britain has long forgotten.’ -- Literary Review‘Sinclair uses his passion for psychogeography to tell the story of what has happened in the years since the Peruvian Corporation left the Ashaninka people, how monetization exploited generational farming practices and left them in ruins… a thrilling ride.’ * Booklist *‘Sinclair’s observations are sharp and vital… [The Gold Machine] stands in the long line of travel books where it is the journey, rather than its inspiration, that proves to be compelling.’ * Geographical Magazine *‘This book follows the eye-opening journey of the author and his daughter through Peru. It deftly contrasts the country’s eco-tourism industry of today with the colonial incursions of his great-grandfather – a displaced Highlander – and his thirst for gold.’ -- Scots Magazine‘Sinclair walks every inch of his wonderful psychogeographies, pacing out huge word-courses like an architect laying out a city on an empty plain.’ -- J.G. Ballard‘Sentence for sentence, there is no more interesting writer at work in English.’ -- John Lanchester

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Book SynopsisThe reader Art and its global histories represents an invaluable teaching tool, offering content ranging from academic essays and excerpts, new translations, interviews with curators and artists, to art criticism. The introduction sets out the state of art history today as it undergoes the profound shift of a 'global turn'. Particular focus is given to British India, which represents a shift from the usual attention paid to Orientalism and French art in this period. The sources and debates on this topic have never before been brought together in a satisfactory way and this book will represent a particularly significant and valuable contribution for postgraduate and undergraduate art history teaching.Table of ContentsIntroductionSection One: Confronting Art History: Overviews, Perspectives and Reflections Introduction Critical Approaches1.1 Orientalisma) Edward W. Said, ‘Introduction – Section II’ , Orientalism b) Linda Nochlin, ‘The Imaginary Orient’1.2 Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture a) ‘The Other Question: Stereotype, Discrimination and the Discourse of Colonialism’b) ‘Articulating the Archaic: Cultural Difference and Colonial Nonsense’1.3 New perspectives and approaches in Art Historya) Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, ‘The Geography of Art: Historiography, Issues, and Perspectives’ b) James Elkins, ‘Why Art History is Global’ c) Parul Dave Mukherji, ‘Whither Art History in a Globalizing World’ Section Two: European art and the Wider World c. 1350–1550Introduction Primary Source texts2.1. Europeans describing Amerindian artists in Mexicoa) Allè, Francesco da Bologna, letter sent from Mexico to Padre Clemente Dolera da Moneglia, head of the Order of Conventual Franciscans in Bologna, and other friars of the orderb) Bernal Díaz, The Conquest of New Spainc) Bartolomé de Las Casas, ‘Indian Houses, Featherwork and Silverwork’2.2 Albrecht Dürer, ‘Part II: Diary of a Journey the Netherlands (July, 1520 – July, 1521)', Memoirs of Journeys to Venice and the Low Countries2.3 Sources on proposed work by Leonardo and Michelangelo for the Ottoman Sultansa) Leonardo da Vinci, undated letter to Sultan Bayezid II b) Tommaso di Tolfo in Edirne (in Ottoman Turkey) to Michelangelo in Florencec) Ascanio Condivi, ‘Life of Michelangelo’2.4 Gifts to Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence from the Gifts from Qaytbay, the Mamluk Sultan in Cairoa) L. Landucci, Diario fiorentino dal 1450 al 1516 continuato da un anonimo fino al 1542b) Paolo Giovio, Gli elogi. Vite brevemente scritte d’huomini illustri di guerra, antichi et moderni2.5 Travel Narrativesa) Vasco da Gama, ‘A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama 1497–1499’b) Duarte de Sande, ‘An Excellent Treatise of the Kingdom of China’c) Giovanni da Empoli, extract of a letter to his fatherd) Duarte Barbosa, ‘The Great City of Bisnagua’Critical Approaches2.6 Claire Farago, ‘Reframing the Renaissance Problem Today: Developing a Pluralistic Historical Vision’2.7 Avinoam Shalem, ‘Dangerous Claims On the ‘Othering’ of Islamic Art History and How it Operates within Global Art History’ 2.8 Luca Molà and Marta Ajmar-Wollheim, ‘The Global Renaissance: Cross-Cultural Objects in the Early Modern Period’ 2.9 Jack Goody, ‘The Idea of the Renaissance’Section Three: Art, Commerce and Colonialism: 1600–1800 Introduction Primary Source texts3.1 Johan Huyghen van Linschoten on Goa, from Iohn Huighen van Linschoten. his discours of voyages into ye Easte & West Indies Deuided into foure books3.2 Texts on Colonial Latin American arta) Extract from the First Provincial Council in Lima 1551–52b) Extract from Padre Antonio de Vega Loaiza, Historia del Colegio y Universidad de San Ignacio de Loyola en la Ciudad de Cuscoc) Letter from the Viceroy of Peru Manuel Amat y Junyent to Crown official Julián de Arriaga accompanying a shipment of Casta paintings to the collection of the Royal Cabinet of Natural History 1770d) Picture caption by Diego Rivera, from The Arts in Latin America 1492–18203.3 Johann Albrecht von Mandelslo on Amsterdam, from Adam Olearius, The voyages and travells of the ambassadors sent by Frederick, Duke of Holstein, to the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia…3.4 Texts on Chinoiserie in Britain.a) A catalogue of all the rich and elegant household furniture, …late the property of Her Grace the Duchess of Kingston, deceased…at Thorseby Park…Which will be sold by auction, by Mr. Christie …on Wednesday, 10th June 1789b) Oliver Goldsmith, ‘Letter XIV on Chinoiserie’ in The citizen of the world; or Letters from a Chinese philosopher, residing in London, to his friends in the East 3.5 Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginiaa) 14 Lawsb) Query 19 Colleges, Buildings, Roads, &c.Critical Approaches3.6 Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, ‘Painting of the Kingdoms: A global view of the cultural field’3.7 Benjamin Schmidt, ‘Mapping an Exotic World: The Global Project of Dutch Cartography, circa 1700’ 3.8 David Porter, ‘A Wanton Chase in a Foreign Place: Hogarth and the Gendering of Exoticism in the Eighteenth-Century Interior’3.9 Daniel Maudlin and Bernard L. Herman, ‘Introduction’ in Building the British Atlantic World: Spaces, Places, and Material Culture, 1600–1850 Section Four: Empire and Art: British India Introduction Primary Source texts4.1 Did India have an authentic, truly Indian tradition of fine art? The contentious issue of Gandharan arta) Alexander Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India. Report for the Year 1871–72, Vol. 3b) Raja Rajendralal Mitra, Indo-Aryans: Contributions Towards the Elucidation of Their Ancient and Mediaeval Historyc) James Fergusson, Archaeology in India, with Special Reference to the Works of Babu Rajendralal Mitrad) Sister Nivedita, ‘Introduction’ in Kakuzo Okakura (ed.) The Ideals of the East with Special Reference to the Art of Japan 4.2 Neo-Orientalism, Nationalism and Pan-Asianisma) E. B. Havell, ‘The New Indian School of Painting’b) Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, ‘The Aim of Indian Art’c) Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, ‘Art of the East and of the West’4.3 Ravi Varma – The first modern Indian Artista) Balendranath Tagore, ‘Ravi Varma’b) Ramananda Chatterjee, ‘Ravi Varma’4.4 The Modern, Internal Primitivism and Hinduizationa) Roger Fry, ‘Oriental Art’b) Vincent A. Smith, A History of Fine Art in India & Ceylon4.5 Authentic Indian Designsa) George Birdwood, The Industrial Arts of India, Part 1b) George Birdwood, The Industrial Arts of India, Part 2c) Thomas Holbein Hendley, ‘Decorative Arts in Rajputana’d) Thomas Holbein Hendley, ‘The Opening of the Albert Hall and Museum in Jeypore’Critical Approaches4.6 Tim Barringer, Geoff Quilley and Douglas Fordham, ‘Introduction’ in Art and the British Empire4.7 Theodore Koditschek, ‘Race Struggles’4.8 Lee Lawrence, ‘The Other Half of Indian Art History: A Study of Photographic Illustrations in Orientalist and Nationalist Texts’4.9 Carol A. Breckenridge, ‘The Aesthetics and Politics of Colonial Collecting: India at World Fairs’4.10 Christopher Pinney, ‘The Material and Visual Culture of British India’Section Five: Art after Empire: From Colonialism to Globalisation Introduction Primary Sources5.1 Modernism and Primitivisma) Maurice de Vlaminck, ‘Discovery of African Art’b) Emil Nolde, ‘On Primitive Art’c) Andre Breton et al., ‘Murderous Humanitarianism’5.2 Mexican Muralismd) David Alfaro Siqueiros, ‘A Declaration of Social, Political and Aesthetic Principles’e) Interview with Alberto Hijar Serrano, Researcher of Plastic Arts of the National Institute of Fine ArtsCritical Approaches5.3 Terry Smith, ‘The Provincialism Problem’5.4 Stuart Hall, ‘Museums of Modern Art and the End of History’ 5.5 Okwui Enwezor, ‘The Postcolonial Constellation: Contemporary Art is a State of Permanent Transition’5.6 Chin-Tao Wu, ‘Biennials without Borders’5.7 Hito Steyerl, ‘Politics of Art: Contemporary Art and the Transition to Post-Democracy'Index

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Book SynopsisThe profound effects of the British Empire's actions in the Arab World during the First World War can be seen echoing through the history of the 20th century. The uprising sparked by the Husayn-McMahon correspondence and led by 'Lawrence of Arabia'; the Sykes-Picot agreement which undermined that rebellion; and memoranda such as the Balfour Declaration all have shaped the Middle East into forms which would have been unrecognizable to the diplomats of the 19th century. Undertaken during the First 'World' War, these actions were not part of a coordinated British strategy, but in fact directed by several overlapping and competing departments, some imperfectly referred to as the 'Arab Bureau'. The British and the Middle East is unique in its comprehensive treatment of how and why the British generals and diplomats acted as they did. By taking as his starting point the voluminous, contradictory and revealing records of the policy-makers in the British government, Robert H. Lieshout shows convincingly that many concerned with foreign policy making were quite oblivious to the history and complexities of the Islamic World.Covering the full sweep of British involvement in Arabia, Lieshout makes a lasting contribution to our understanding of the period in which the British Empire changed the world, and shows how shallow and confused the understanding of those that shaped the future of the Middle East really was.

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