Critics of Empire

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The notion of ’empire’ has been at the forefront of world politics for over a century. Bernard Porter’s landmark work traces the critical response to the British imperial project in the years leading up to World War I. Imperial adventures, including the intervention in Egypt and the Anglo-Boer War, together with the jingoistic clamour that surrounded them, attracted powerful hostility as well as support. “Criticism of Empire” is the subject of Porter’s stimulating book. Long regarded as the classic account, the author has now added a substantial new Introduction. He demonstrates the power and influence of major critics such as J.A. Hobson – the acknowledged creator of the ‘capitalist theory’ of imperialism – E.D. Morel and Mary Kingsley and of organisations like the Congo Reform Association. With themes which are also highly relevant to the present day discourse on the American ’empire’, this book will prove essential reading for all students of imperial and international history. Bernard Porter, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Newcastle, took his degrees at Cambridge University, becoming a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, before moving on to a Lectureship at Hull, a Chair at Newcastle and Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Yale and Sydney. His books include Empire and Superempire (a comparison between British and American ‘imperialisms’), The Absent-Minded Imperialists and The Lion’s Share. He mainly lives in Sweden.

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