
Lineages of Empire
The Historical Roots of British Imperial Thought
Duncan Kelly(Editor)
Oxford University Press
Published on 30. April 2009
Book
Hardback
262 pages
978-0-19-726439-3 (ISBN)
Description
Recently there has been an explosion of academic and popular interest in the history of how Britons have thought about their Empire. This volume focuses on the ways in which the intellectual history and political thought of modern Britain have been saturated with imperial concerns.
Chapters address thematic questions about size and scale, race, colonial emigration, and the ideological uses of the classical tradition, questions that are crucial for understanding the historical roots of British imperial thought. There are also studies of figures central to understanding the character of intellectual debates about the British Empire from the 18th to the 20th centuries: Edmund Burke, James Steuart, Adam Smith, and Harold Laski.
This volume also shows how an awareness of these histories of the imperial past can provide numerous lessons for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of much contemporary political thinking about empire and imperialism. In fact, whilst there are many studies of the British Empire, as well as innumerable volumes on the imperial cast of much modern history, the thematic and chronological coherence of this volume makes it a unique statement of the latest thinking about these questions from internationally acclaimed political theorists and intellectual historians.
Chapters address thematic questions about size and scale, race, colonial emigration, and the ideological uses of the classical tradition, questions that are crucial for understanding the historical roots of British imperial thought. There are also studies of figures central to understanding the character of intellectual debates about the British Empire from the 18th to the 20th centuries: Edmund Burke, James Steuart, Adam Smith, and Harold Laski.
This volume also shows how an awareness of these histories of the imperial past can provide numerous lessons for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of much contemporary political thinking about empire and imperialism. In fact, whilst there are many studies of the British Empire, as well as innumerable volumes on the imperial cast of much modern history, the thematic and chronological coherence of this volume makes it a unique statement of the latest thinking about these questions from internationally acclaimed political theorists and intellectual historians.
Reviews / Votes
[a] stimulating and worthwhile volume * Andrew Sartori, English Historical Review * Lineages of Empire makes a compelling contribution, not only to British history, but also to our understanding of the complicated intellectual inheritances of European and U.S. Imperialism more generally. * Sarah Irving, Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture. *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Adult education
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
569 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-726439-3 (9780197264393)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Editor
University Lecturer in Political Theory and Fellow of Jesus College, University of Cambridge
Content
Introduction
Part One: Genealogies of Empire
Lineages of Informal Imperialism
The Social Question and the Problem of History after Empire
Part Two: Historical Debates
'Neither Masters nor Slaves': Small States and Empires in the Long Eighteenth Century
Virgil and the British Empire, 1760-1880
Edmund Burke and Empire
British India as a Problem in Political Economy: Comparing James Steuart and Adam Smith
Colonial Emigration, Public Policy and Tory Romanticism, 1783-1830
From Natural Science to Social Science: Race and the Language of Race-Relations in Late Victorian and Edwardian Discourse
Harold Laski on the Habits of Imperialism
Conclusion
Part One: Genealogies of Empire
Lineages of Informal Imperialism
The Social Question and the Problem of History after Empire
Part Two: Historical Debates
'Neither Masters nor Slaves': Small States and Empires in the Long Eighteenth Century
Virgil and the British Empire, 1760-1880
Edmund Burke and Empire
British India as a Problem in Political Economy: Comparing James Steuart and Adam Smith
Colonial Emigration, Public Policy and Tory Romanticism, 1783-1830
From Natural Science to Social Science: Race and the Language of Race-Relations in Late Victorian and Edwardian Discourse
Harold Laski on the Habits of Imperialism
Conclusion