Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century

Volume III of The Oxford History of the British Empire covers the long nineteenth century, from the achievement of American independence in the 1780s to the eve of world war in 1914. This was the period of Britain's greatest expansion as both empire-builder and dominant world power. The volume is divided into two parts. The first contains thematic chapters, some focusing on Britain, others on areas at the imperial periphery, exploring those fundamentaldynamics of British expansion which made imperial influence and rule possible. They also examine the economic, cultural, and institutional frameworks which gave shape to Britain's overseas empire. Part 2 is devoted to the principal areas of imperial activity overseas, including both white settler and tropical colonies. Chapters examine how British interests and imperial rule shaped individual regions' nineteenth-century political and social-economic history. Themes dealt with include the economics of empire, imperial institutions, defence, technology, imperial and colonial cultures, science and exploration. Attention is given not only to the formal empire, from Australasia and the WestIndies to India and the African colonies, but also to China and Latin America, often regarded as central components of a British `informal empire'.Series BlurbThe Oxford History of the British Empire is a major new assessment of the Empire in the light of recent scholarship and the progressive opening of historical records. From the founding of colonies in North America and the West Indies in the seventeenth century to the reversion of Hong Kong to China at the end of the twentieth, British imperialism was a catalyst for far-reaching change. The Oxford History of the British Empire as a comprehensive study allows us to understandthe end of Empire in relation to its beginnings, the meaning of British imperialism for the ruled as well as the rulers, and the significance of the British Empire as a theme in world history

Oxford University Press has recently published a wide variety of historical titles in paperback. Pride of place must go to the five volume Oxford History of the British Empire written under the general editorship of Professor William Roger Lewis and published in hardback in 1998. The five volumes, describe the history and effect of the Empire on world history. The scholars who contributed and the volumes' individual editors all deserve high praise for thie massive undertaking., Stafford's chapter provides an excellent overview of the Royal Geographical Society's activities in Africa, North America and Australasia ... Excellent maps provide summaries for Africa and Australia that would be very useful for undergraduate teaching., these volumes and the series of which they are part represent a very useful resource and an important synthesis of much postwar imperial history., Review from previous edition these volumes and the series of which they are part represent a very useful resource and an important synthesis of much postwar imperial history.

Andrew Porter is Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at the University of London.