This is a fascinating illustrated book on the often elaborate and arresting labels used by British textile manufacturers when exporting to India during the Raj.
From Buddhist, Jain and Hindu temples through to Islamic and European centres of worship and commerce, this two volume set covers two-thousand years of Indian architectural history.
Vol. 1... read more
Essays on cultural and artistic exchange in the age of imperialism as European powers vied for domination of the oceanic routes between Asia and the Americas. Illustrated.
This rich historical analysis argues that the Enlightenment was a failure on its own terms. Terror, revolution, corruption, gross commercial excess and Empire prevailed instead of Reason.
A fascinating exploration of travel in C17th India: merchant-cum-gentleman Thomas Roe is whisked away as ambassador to Mughal India where he plays the dangerous (and often disappointing) gam... read more
An anthology of the writings by the often overlooked women of the Raj, many of whom flourished in India - Fanny Parks, Emily Eden et alia. A fascinating counterpoint to the stereotypical vie... read more
An ambitious book that traces the collapse of empires and their ramifications in contemporary Eurasian geopolitics - in particular Iran, China, Turkey and Russia.
An unflinching look at Britain's past, showing how the empire was built - and depended on - institutionalised, racialised violence. The Pulitzer-winner argues that the empire only waned when... read more
Explores the world and campaigns of the late-medieval imperialists, the Christian adventurers whose mind-sets are as remote to us today as were those of the Aztecs and Incas to them.
Argues that the British/Chinese relationship has shaped the modern world. While Britain dominated in the age of the Opium Wars, the balance has now decisively shifted.
This complex man exposed horrors in the Congo and Amazon, winning renown and a knighthood. But his support for Irish Independence led to his execution for high treason.
Accompanies an exhibition at the RA about competing representations of empire, featuring fifty artists from Turner and Reynolds to Frank Bowling, Lubaina Himid and Kara Walker.
The British empire observed through the lens of a single day: the 29th September 1923, when the Mandate for Palestine became law and the British empire reached its maximum extent, just as i... read more
After the Armistice in 1918, the Allies' support for anyone contra-German mutated into anti-Bolshevik Intervention. Forces were deployed in Archangel, the Caucasus, the Far East and elsewher... read more
Born in Kenya, the author was two when the Mau Mau uprising began. A powerful memoir of this very difficult period and the end of empire in Kenya.The author worked for many years for the BBC... read more
From the perspective of the people who have worked and lived there since 1862, when it was a fishing village, rather than of the imperial powers who controlled it.
Unlike Dalrymple's The Anarchy, this deals just with the East India Company's early years. Howarth argues that it was more European than English in spirit.
A brilliant narrative of the interconnected lives of two Renaissance Portuguese men whose travels to India and China unseated contemporary certainties. Dazzling.
The author is a distinguished historian; as professor of British history at Stanford, she has a commanding view of the Empire and its changing narratives. Original and well-informed.
Demonstrates how constitutions evolved in tandem with warfare, and how they have functioned to advance empire as well as promote nations, and worked to exclude as well as liberate. LC is a b... read more
A many-layered memoir from the Pulitzer-winning author of The Sympathizer: the American dream, the Vietnam War, the life of the refugee, adoption, violence, identity.
The story of the first contact between the Haida and other indigenous peoples of the Pacific North West with Europeans - and what came after. Told very powerfully in a graphic form that comb... read more
The 60 years following the Portuguese arrival in the Moluccas in 1511 saw an epic global struggle for the sources and distribution of this new geyser of wealth. Told with verve and authority... read more
A first edition, first impression of William Dalrymple's evocative and riveting portrayal of the last days of the Mughal empire and of Zafar, its last emperor. The book is in fine condition ... read more