Description
Book SynopsisGermany's short-lived colonial project had wide-reaching consequences for German politics and the nation as a whole. Sebastian Conrad draws on the wider history of European expansion and globalisation to shed new light on Germany's major role in the colonial world and the legacy of its involvement.
Trade Review'In this brief but superb book, Conrad manages to couple acute analysis with all the essential information about Germany's colonial ventures in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. It is a model history, a tour de force.' Eric D. Weitz, University of Minnesota
'Sebastian Conrad's German Colonialism is a smart, scintillating synthesis of a great deal of new scholarship; it places the German experience in a cultural and transnational frame, and shows why this episode was so important for German, European, and global history. By far the best brief treatment.' Helmut W. Smith, Vanderbilt University
'Sebastian Conrad has proven to be a master in the art of condensed and efficient writing. He skilfully analyses most aspects of German colonial history and provides an impressive bibliography as well. The result is a brilliant mixture of wide ranging narrative account with cultural historical methods and a timely discussion of the social and economic effects of the European Powers' colonialist period.' Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann, University of Oxford
'With its many excellent illustrations and maps, its annotated critical bibliography and its acute awareness of historiographical trends, it is a model of its kind, providing an essential guide to the subject and intelligent pointers for further research.' London Review of Books
'This is an excellent overview of German colonialism … It is the best survey of the subject in English to date, and will be welcomed by students and scholars alike. The breadth of the discussion marks this book out as a particularly valuable addition to the existing literature, and distinguishes it from other textbooks on the topic.' Reviews in History (history.ac.uk/reviews)
'Sebastian Conrad's brief summary provides an excellent overview not only of the events and of the geographical and structural dimensions of Germany's colonial experience but also of its historiography.' Woodruff Smith, The Journal of Modern History
Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Colonialism before the colonial empire; 3. Pressure groups, motivations, attitudes; 4. The German colonial empire; 5. The colonial state; 6. Economy and work; 7. Colonial society; 8. Knowledge and colonialism; 9. The colonial metropole; 10. Colonialism in Europe; 11. German colonialism and its global contexts; 12. Memory; 13. Selected readings.
