The British Empire

This volume adopts a distinctive thematic approach to the history of British imperialism from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. It brings together leading scholars of British imperial history: Tony Ballantyne, John Darwin, Andrew Dilley, Elizabeth Elbourne, Kent Fedorowich, Eliga Gould, Catherine Hall, Stephen Howe, Sarah Stockwell, Andrew Thompson, Stuart Ward, and Jon Wilson. Each contributor offers a personal assessment of the topic at hand, and examines key interpretive debates among historians Addresses many of the core issues that constitute a broad understanding of the British Empire, including the economics of the empire, the empire and religion, and imperial identities

Notes on Contributors vii Preface xi Abbreviations Used in Notes xvii Maps xviii 1 Britain’s Empires 1 John Darwin 2 Foundations of Empire, 1763–83 21 Eliga H. Gould 3 Empire and the British State 39 Andrew Thompson 4 The British Empire on the Move, 1760–1914 63 Kent Fedorowich 5 The Economics of Empire 101 A. R. Dilley 6 Religion in the British Empire 131 Elisabeth Elbourne 7 Empire and Ideology 157 Stephen Howe 8 Colonial Knowledge 177 Tony Ballantyne 9 Culture and Identity in Imperial Britain 199 Catherine Hall 10 Imperial Identities Abroad 219 Stuart Ward 11 Agency, Narrative, and Resistance 245 Jon E. Wilson 12 Ends of Empire 269 Sarah Stockwell Consolidated Bibliography 295 Index 343