Description
Book SynopsisEmpires and Colonies provides a thoroughgoing and lively exploration of the expansion of the seaborne empires of western Europe from the fifteenth century and how that process of expansion affected the world, including its successor, the United States.
Trade Review"To contain the story to an accessible 387 pages, Hart uses 1415 as the starting date. Even so, the book is striking in its scope, managing to extend the topic back to classic antiquity and such famed minds as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Aristotle's famed student, Alexander the Great."
Calgary Herald "This is a book of majestic synthesis, a tour de force and a timely reminder of the persistence of empires and imperialism in the political imagination."
Jeremy I. Adelman, Princeton University
"Empires and Colonies covers, in great depth, the entire tangled and tragic history of European empire-building - a powerful, wide-ranging book which is not only a history but also a significant contribution to an important contemporary political debate."
Anthony Pagden, University of California, Los Angeles
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements.
Introduction.
1. First Expansion: 1415-1517.
2. From the Reformation to English and French Settlements in the New World: 1517-1608.
3. The Relative Decline of Portugal and Spain: 1608-1713.
4. The Rise of Britain and France: 1713-1830.
5. High Imperialism: 1830-1914.
6. European Civil War and World Conflict: 1914-1945.
7. Decolonization or Neo-imperialism: 1945 to the Present.
8. Conclusion
