Empire: A Very Short Introduction

This is the only title in the Oxford series that addresses colonialism. Pages 62-103 cover this topic. Too much of history in school covers North America and the Caribbean and stops there. This covers the rest of the world.Other books in the series cover the post-colonial history.Luckily we don't get too many right wingers reviewing these Oxford introductions. They would label it all as "woke" history. This is what actually happened. As far as the Americas go, the book on slavery adds a bit to this same topic. The book American Slavery by Heather Andrea Williams covers the Caribbean as well as the continent (US).

I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars for this. I'm subtracting one star for the title. It should really be called "Western Colonialism: A very short introduction". I was hoping for a discussion of historical empires, and they are quite glossed over.The majority of the book is spent discussing western empires from the last 500 years or so, with a heavy focus on the effects of colonialism. About 15 pages are devoted to older "land empires".In general, the book is probably a solid 4 stars as an introduction to colonialism and its aftermath. The author does a good job keeping the pace moving, but I feel like he moves so fast to fit all the information in the short book that the topic ends up stretched very thin.If you're looking for a very short introduction that looks at modern forms of empire from a variety of academic perspectives, this is a solid book. If you're looking for a book about what empires existed and were thought of before the year 1500, keep looking.

Stephen Howe begins his very short introduction to 'Empire' by first attempting to separate terminology. He points out an almost useless difference between terms such as 'empire,''imperial globalization,' 'colonization,' & 'colonialism.' It might just be me, but I don't need two whole chapters to explain to me at length that which is easily obtainable from any modern dictionary. Howe then proceeds to argue that empires have always, even in fictional form, held the same characteristics and fundamental values. While he argues well on small anecdotal facts of certain empires and draws parallels based on these points of trivia, his overall argument that Empires are relatively identical is a much too elementary stance when discussing such a large and complex matter of human history.Howe does have a great talent for cramming large amounts of information into a very short piece, and his attempt at an introduction to "Empire" does contain some valid and interesting facts. Overall, however, Howe is forced to introduce and conclude his arguments without a very well developed body. This is probably because this book is so small and the topics Howe speaks upon are so massive, he is forced to hammer the relatively inane and unimportant details in a photo-finish style attempt at his argument. 130 pages is simply not enough to introduce 'Empire' in its whole concept. I think maybe Oxford should have invested a bit more heavily into creating a larger contextual case study-based examination of 'Empire' instead of pumping out another of their adorable little "Short Intro to" series. Of that entire set, this is by far the poorest.

I'll echo other reviewers who have noted that author Stephen Howe has created a really fascinating overview of an amorphous subject. He begins by coming up with useful definitions of empire, imperialism, colonialism, and colonization, and then proceeds from there. A listing of chapter titles can give you the breadth of the coverage:1 - Who's an Imperialist2 - Empire by land3 - Empire by sea4 - Ends and aftermaths of empire5 - Studying and judging empiresIt can be argued that the topic is way too large to be really dealt with in a short book, but this is a solid start. The author has presented good information, described differing viewpoints, plus offered good insights. He makes the reader think about the subject in different ways. I've read a bunch of the OUP VSI series, an excellent series in general, and this may be the one I've enjoyed the most.

As an amateur student of history and cultural studies, i find the book useful for an introduction to the study of colonialism and imperialism of the last 200 years. The discussion is fluid and not tied up by too much academic cross referencing (there is a good bibliography at the end for that) and each topic is treated as much as the short space allows. It achieve its purpose by pointing the whetted reader to further readings.

Empire: A Very Short Introduction is a lucid explanation of how political empires can be defined, formed, and governed at a very affordable price. It is one of a series of introductions to political science topics that are well worth the interest of the general public as well as political scientists.

I read this book a number of years ago, just remembered I liked it, but not much else. Glad I did, Some criticism is it is western focused. I disagree, it is Empire focused, and it so happened the West had more than their fair share. Such claim should be fact checked with the last chapter, a wonderful summary, and why studying Empire histories is critical so that "citizens of the world today can better understand their world they live in". Globalization it is often claimed, has replaces Empire building, and the need to understand it requires understanding why Empire building was undertaken to accomplished the same thing, but failed. What is next for globalization. Point of this wonderful insightful book written by an expert on the topic, is you need to have a foundation of past Empires to interpret today and predict the next big thing. I highly recommend reading or listening to audio which I did the later because of the many insights and interpretations of so much of history; if one disagreed with his views, one still is aware "there was colonialism gone amuck by Empire building" and the need to understand each effort, and why all of them failed.

Excellent@

I think this is a perfect introduction for anyone studying empire

Interesting read

Just what inwante