Modern Empires: A Reader - Paperback

by Bonnie G. Smith (Author)

Based on the central role that the study of documents plays in the history classroom, Modern Empires: A Reader presents the history of modern empires across the globe from the late fifteenth century to the present. The anthology's chronological, geographical, and thematic range offers special pedagogical benefits in light of the growing attention to the history of empire. Featuring voices from all levels of society and all parts of the world, this book stresses the complexity of empires when seen from multiple points of view. The introduction provides a thorough synopsis of the rise and fall of empires and also presents themes on which to base class discussions: Are empires chaotic systems or do they lead to systems of world governance? Are empires agents of integration and civilization or agents of violence and destruction? What is the nature of individual participation in empire? What is the role of resistance in the evolution of empire?

Author Biography

Bonnie G. Smith is Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at Rutgers University. She is the author of several books, including Women's Studies: The Basics (2013) and Europe in the Contemporary World: 1900 to Present: A Narrative History with Documents (2007). She is also the coauthor, along with Lynn Hunt and Thomas R. Martin, of The Making of the West: A Concise History (2013), and the general editor of the four-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History (OUP, 2008), which won the American Library Association Outstanding Reference Work Award.