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Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference Paperback – Illustrated, July 25, 2011

by Jane Burbank (Author), Frederick Cooper (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 143 ratings
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How empires have used diversity to shape the world order for more than two millennia

Empires―vast states of territories and peoples united by force and ambition―have dominated the political landscape for more than two millennia. Empires in World History departs from conventional European and nation-centered perspectives to take a remarkable look at how empires relied on diversity to shape the global order. Beginning with ancient Rome and China and continuing across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa, Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper examine empires' conquests, rivalries, and strategies of domination―with an emphasis on how empires accommodated, created, and manipulated differences among populations.

Burbank and Cooper examine Rome and China from the third century BCE, empires that sustained state power for centuries. They delve into the militant monotheism of Byzantium, the Islamic Caliphates, and the short-lived Carolingians, as well as the pragmatically tolerant rule of the Mongols and Ottomans, who combined religious protection with the politics of loyalty. Burbank and Cooper discuss the influence of empire on capitalism and popular sovereignty, the limitations and instability of Europe's colonial projects, Russia's repertoire of exploitation and differentiation, as well as the "empire of liberty"―devised by American revolutionaries and later extended across a continent and beyond.

With its investigation into the relationship between diversity and imperial states, Empires in World History offers a fresh approach to understanding the impact of empires on the past and present.

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  1. Print length
    528 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Princeton University Press
  4. Publication date
    July 25, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    7 x 1.75 x 10.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0691152365
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0691152363
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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"Winner of the 2011 Book Prize, World History Association"

"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2010"

"Winner of the Toynbee Prize"

"This is a very big book on an enormous subject. For anybody who assumes imperial history is all about Britain, with some 19th-century European imitators on the side, it will be something of a shock. For Burbank and Cooper, imperial history is world history. The authors also make a point popular among academics who hate the idea of borders keeping the underprivileged out of rich nations, that empires can be confederations of different peoples united by an all-encompassing ideal. 'Sovereignty can be shared, layered and transformed,' they write. Whether or not you agree with the implications of this argument, the weeks it will take bedtime history buffs to get through this book will be time well spent."---Stephen Matchett, The Australian

"This exemplary work, clearly laid out and fluently written, is a must for every undergraduate library, though more advanced scholars will also find much in it." ― Choice

"A tour d'horizon through world history based on a stupendous knowledge of the literature, both authors take as their leitmotif the question of how empires have dealt with diversity and analyze the most varied constellations of imperial control."---Andreas Eckert, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"Jane Burbank's and Frederick Cooper's Empires in World History is a very useful and impressive reference book."---Sheldon Kirshner, Canadian Jewish News

"Empires in World History provides a powerful teaching tool for framing the sometimes fluid and complex relationships between empires and nation-states, subjects and citizens, inclusion and exclusion. . . . This book will likely prove most useful in graduate courses in empire and/or world history and to teachers who are seeking a way to teach about empire without simply jumping from one to the next."---Clif Stratton, World History Bulletin

"A good read for those interested in any of the empires discussed or in the rise and fall of megastates."---A. A. Nofi, StrategyPage.com

"Empires in World History is one of the clearest written surveys of empires available. It will serve well as an introductory text for university students and as a reference for scholars."---Michael J. Seth, European Legacy

"Empires in World History . . . provides fresh insight into the strategies of imperial rule that have sustained empires over time. . . . It will be a useful text for both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as general readers interested in imperial histories."---Paula Hastings, World History Connected

"This book offers students of Asian affairs (and international relations generally) a broad historical and comparative perspective for viewing the actions and interactions of imperial hegemons and their potential or actual subjects. . . . First-rate."---Walter C. Clemens Jr., Asian Perspective

Review

"This is the single best book about the relationship of empires and nations that I can think of."―Kenneth Pomeranz, author of The Great Divergence

"A major corrective to much of the literature about empire, this is destined to become a classic: it tackles a huge and topical theme, and moves at a fast pace, from Rome and Han Dynasty China, right down to the present. The coverage is sweeping and balanced. A stunning accomplishment."―Jeremy Adelman, Princeton University

"Timely and important, this book stresses the durability of empires from early times, across diverse historical eras, down to the present. The authors blur the line between the premodern and modern, and de-Europeanize history by stressing the importance of non-Western imperial experiences."―Robert Tignor, Princeton University

"This superb book redefines the field of empire and colonial studies. Careful not to reduce the complexity and variety of imperial experiences to fit a rigid or narrow definition, the authors find a fresh way to retell the story of empires, illuminating how they were maintained for such long periods, what made them, and why they collapsed. There is nothing comparable."―Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press; Illustrated edition (July 25, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 528 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691152365
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691152363
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.44 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1.75 x 10.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 143 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Jane Burbank

    Jane Burbank

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    Jane Burbank is Collegiate Professor, History and Russian and Slavic Studies, at New York University.

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  2. Frederick Cooper

    Frederick Cooper

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    Frederick Cooper is Professor of History at New York University, where he specializes in the history of Africa, of colonialism, and of empires. He previously taught at Harvard University and the University of Michigan, and he has been a visiting professor or research fellow at institutions in France, Germany, and Italy. He has done extensive research in Africa. Cooper is the author of a trilogy of books on labor and society in East Africa (1977-87), Decolonization and African Society: The Labor Question in French and British Africa (1996), Africa Since 1940: The Past of the Present (2002), Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History (2005), Africa in the World: Capitalism, Empire, Nation-State (2014), and Citizenship between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and French Africa, 1945-1960 (2014). He is also co-author with Thomas Holt and Rebecca Scott of Beyond Slavery: Explorations of Race, Labor, and Citizenship in Post-Emancipation Societies (2000) and with Jane Burbank of Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference (2010). Some of his books have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Chinese, and Korean. He is co-editor with Ann Stoler of Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World (1997), with Randall Packard of International Development and the Social Sciences: Essays in the History and Politics of Knowledge (1997), and with Craig Calhoun and Kevin Moore of Lessons of Empire: Imperial Histories and American Power (2006). In 2016, Cooper presented the Lawrence Stone lectures at Princeton University on the subject of citizenship, inequality, and difference from Roman times to the present; a revised version of these lectures will be published shortly by Princeton University Press.

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
143 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Elmo Renato Castro Ramírez
5.0 out of 5 stars Clear and depth explanation about Impires
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2024
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Highly recommended, this book explain very clear all topics about Impires and its influence and its impact in the currently society
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Serge J. Van Steenkiste
5.0 out of 5 stars Empires Molders of Nation-States
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2010
Verified Purchase
Professors Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper deviate from the traditional narrative about the birth and development of the nation-state. Both authors contend that a world of bounded and unitary states interacting with other equivalent states dates from 1948 C.E. rather than 1648 C.E. and the Treaty of Westphalia. For this reason, professors Burbank and Cooper explore instead the rise and fall of specific empires, their imaginary, their interaction with each other, and their respective repertoires of power.

Professors Burbank and Cooper demonstrate convincingly that throughout history, most people have lived in empires that did not aim to represent a single nation. Unlike nation-states that tend to homogenize those inside their polity, empires treat different nations within their polity differently. Conflicts among empires, resistance of conquered people, and rebellions of settlers were some key factors in any cost-benefit analysis of empire-building and sustenance.

To their credit, professors Burbank and Cooper clearly explain the vertical nature of power relations within empires, as leaders try to recruit reliable intermediaries to manage distant territories and achieve contingent accommodation to their rule. Empires used a wide variety of repertoires of rule such as reliance on a class of loyal, trained officials, empowerment of (select) citizens, marriage politics, and tribal allegiances to secure these essential intermediaries. Both authors also explore in much detail how empires vied with each other to become or remain the top "dog" over time. Imperial strategies such as restriction of competitive empires' connections, imperialism of free trade, and alliance of different empires against one or more other empires were in use at the intersection of empires.

In conclusion, professors Burbank and Cooper give their audience a great opportunity to broaden their horizon by considering an alternative read on the history of humanity. As a side note, History could produce a new series on empires, states, and political imagination as a complement to its existing series "Engineering an Empire."
38 people found this helpful
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Mike Burns
5.0 out of 5 stars Must have for AP World teachers
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2017
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This book is a must have for AP World History teachers. It nails all the essential comparisons from the Course and Exam Description. A quick glance of the Table of Contents shows how useful it would be. It probably goes into more detail than most students would need for AP, but it certainly could be used by students if they were doing a case study of Empires and a teacher wanted to use a jigsaw approach. Useful maps and timelines to keep your empires and dynasties straight. Geared more for teachers and history buffs than students, but I would not hesitate to assign a 20-30 page swath for students involved in a case study. Definitely handy for putting together a lecture or presentation.
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Larry
4.0 out of 5 stars Empires in World History
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2014
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While over the Xmas holidays I didn't have time to do a careful reading of this interesting book, my skimming & scanning of it assures me that this book will satisfy my earlier expectations from other reviewers' comments. I would certainly recommend this scholarly work to anyone interested in understanding how empires have risen and fallen throughout historical period.
2 people found this helpful
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Yifan Xu
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Product. Delivered on time.
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2012
Verified Purchase
For seller's delivery, the book has been delivered as promissed: great shipping speeding and well above average customer service.

For the book itself, I found it the most interesting that chapter one compares the Rome empire with the Chinese empire in terms of political stability and unification. Chapters devoting to other civilizations are of equal significance. The whole book is well written and structure. It is a fun read.
2 people found this helpful
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Nom de Plume
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Thematic approach covered for Students of AP World History
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2013
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This is an excellent regional approach text on the interrelatedness of empires across space and time. It is not intended as a survey text but as a supplement for courses in WH. I recommend you use this book for notes on preparing AP WH essays on change over time and how empires are similar/different along cross-regional connections. I must for any serious AP instructor.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Heinrich Georg von Laufenberg
5.0 out of 5 stars guter Zustnd & schnelle Lieferung
Reviewed in Germany on June 17, 2022
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guter Zustand & schnelle Lieferung
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Stepho
3.0 out of 5 stars Good in some ways, but really not logical in the way it is written
Reviewed in Australia on July 13, 2022
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I bought this book as a text to accompany a Master's Degree unit on Empires. I love to read history books but my pet hate is how they are rarely written in logical sequences and this book falls into that category. Rather than discussing say the Roman Empire in logical stages - its emergence, how it sustained itself, the differences in how different Emperors ran it, the problems it had, and then its retraction, they discuss it in categories such as its Economy, War and Religion and then go through each stage of the Empire and the Emperors within that category. E.g. Ceasar ran the economy this way, Augustine this way, etc, etc. whereas I would prefer a section just on Ceasar with subcategories of each subject of Economy, War, Empire Building, Religion, Politics, issues... It drives me crazy that all history texts and essays don't logically separate eras or sections properly - it makes it difficult to remember what happened when and they become confusing to read. While the authors are writing how the discipline of history tends to write overall, I wish someone would start writing history differently and more logically!
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Yena Park
1.0 out of 5 stars Low quality
Reviewed in Japan on July 31, 2020
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The quality of the book was so bad. Most pages of the book were highlighted to the extent that reading the book was troublesome
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Ian Rocksborough-Smit
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on July 13, 2015
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Excellent, comprehensive read!
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Ledzep
5.0 out of 5 stars So pleased to have bought it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2015
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I bought this for my current OU module as the reviews were good, even though it was a bit expensive. Having started to dip into it, I am so pleased to have bought it. It is clearly set out and easy to read; it's proving extremely useful and interesting. I've already referenced it in my recent essay and I can see, I'll be referencing it regularly.
6 people found this helpful
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