The Kaiser and the Colonies

Reviews / Votes

The Kaiser and the Colonies is a timely, deeply researched and engagingly written book about a topic of global relevance. It will be of considerable interest to students and scholars of colonial and imperial history, German and European history, international relations and world politics. * Hilary Howes, History Australia * This monograph highlights the importance of an agency-centered approach in addressing German colonial history... Fitzpatrick paints a complex picture without silencing and trivializing non-European rulers. Hopefully, future scholarship will equally complicate complex interactions and give agency to those still too often excluded. * Choice * Based on a mastery of the relevant literature and a wealth of archival research, Fitzpatrick's study provides the reader with a truly global offering of case studies, impressively demonstrating the reach of Weltpolitik. * Frank Lorenz MA1/4ller, German History * Fitzpatrick's sensitive evocation of the agency of indigenous rulers makes clear how they often managed to exploit German attention to magnify their own status, defeat local rivals or deflect settler exploitation. * Michael Ledger-Lomas, LRB * The Kaiser and the Colonies presents an exceptionally timely, immaculately researched, and remarkably persuasive study which gives us reason to re-examine the enduring concept of Weltpolitik in late nineteenth century international relations. * Katherine Arnold, Cultural and Social History * Matthew Fitzpatrick has written an approachable monograph on the forms and boundaries of royal cosmopolitanism in the imperial interactions between the German Kaiser and royal figures from around the world that will serve as grounding for another wave of research on German imperialism. * Sean Andrew Wempe, Central European History * A superb work revisiting a major area of traditional Great power history but with an entirely new take, decolonising German colonial history and international relations. Matthew P. Fitzpatrick's The Kaiser and the Colonies is a timely and important book. * Jens-Uwe Guettel, American Historical Review *