Empires of the Imagination
Politics, War, and the Arts in the British World, 1750-1850
Book
Paperback/Softback
544 pages
978-1-86197-864-6 (ISBN)
Description
Between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, Britain evolved from a substantial international power yet relative artistic backwater into a global superpower and a leading cultural force in Europe. In this original and wide-ranging book, Hoock illuminates the manifold ways in which the culture of power and the power of culture were interwoven in this period of dramatic change.
Britons invested artistic and imaginative effort to come to terms with the loss of the American colonies; to sustain the generation-long fight against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France; and to assert and legitimate their growing empire in India. Demonstrating how Britain fought international culture wars over prize antiquities from the Mediterranean and Near East, the book explores how Britons appropriated ancient cultures from the Mediterranean, the Near East, and India, and casts a fresh eye on iconic objects such as the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles.
Britons invested artistic and imaginative effort to come to terms with the loss of the American colonies; to sustain the generation-long fight against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France; and to assert and legitimate their growing empire in India. Demonstrating how Britain fought international culture wars over prize antiquities from the Mediterranean and Near East, the book explores how Britons appropriated ancient cultures from the Mediterranean, the Near East, and India, and casts a fresh eye on iconic objects such as the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles.
Reviews / Votes
A bold, provocative and ambitious book ... it presents a wide perspective on an exceptionally significant era for the British world -- Ludmilla Jordanova, Professor of Modern History, King's College London An excellent book, brimming with insights and splendid illustrations ... a sumptuous treat indeed -- Dominic Sandbrook * Daily Telegraph * Terrific -- Simon Schama * Financial Times * Chock full of vivid case studies ... beautifully done -- Dan Jones * Spectator * Beautifully produced, closely argued and deeply researched ... an important, weighty book. It deserves close scrutiny and a warm reception. -- Professor Denis Judd * BBC History Magazine * An ambitious, authoritative survey of British visual culture in an age of imperial ascent -- Maya Jasanoff * Guardian * Hoock's analysis is of an astonishing breadth. His narrative architecture renders his book pleasurable to the academic and the amateur historian alike. It proves equally entertaining and encyclopaedic by virtue of good story-telling ... by his deft discernment of pattern in detail, he proves himself master of his subject in this empire of political and artistic tales -- Deborah Rosario * Oxonian Review *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
16 page colour plate section
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 186 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-86197-864-6 (9781861978646)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Holger Hoock is aReader (Associate Professor) in British History and Founding Director of the Eighteenth-Century Worlds Centre at the University of Liverpool. As a Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress, he currently lives in Washington, D.C.