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Very Short Introductions #076
Empire: A Very Short Introduction
A great deal of the world's history is the history of empires. Indeed it could be said that all history is colonial history, if one takes a broad enough definition and goes far enough back. And although the great historic imperial systems, the land-based Russian one as well as the seaborne empires of western European powers, have collapsed during the past half century, their legacies shape almost every aspect of life on a global scale. Meanwhile there isfierce argument, and much speculation, about what has replaced the old territorial empires in world politics. Do the United States and its allies, transnational companies, financial and media institutions, or more broadly the forces of 'globalization', constitute a new imperial system?Stephen Howe interprets the meaning of the idea of 'empire' through the ages, disentangling the multiple uses and abuses of the labels 'empire', 'colonialism', etc., and examines the aftermath of imperialism on the contemporary world.ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
168 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
December 16, 2024
A good survey of the history and varieties of empire. Also contrasts and connects empire to colonialism, post-colonialism, Orientalism, etc. The lines between the previous are all quite muddied as is the very definition of empire and imperialism.
April 5, 2021
I’m a big fan of this series, and Empire only added to my enthusiasm. This is a clear, specific, relevant introduction to concepts of empire, imperialism, and colonialism. It’s level of detail, accessible style, and academic grounding makes it useful at both high school, and tertiary levels. There’s some interesting case study analysis that had provided me with some great springboards on which to build elements of my scholarship course. An excellent resource.
December 16, 2011
When I first started reading this book, I found myself to be quite lost. I felt so confused because the author seemed to be jumping from topic to topic, where I guess I was hoping to have a chronological history of the topic. After reading for a while, however, his organization began to make more sense to me. This is a great book for putting history in perspective. I was all of a sudden able to understand why some countries hate others so much. A lot of this seems to be a result of imperialism and colonization. So many times it was due to the empire building done by European countries.
Stephen Howe describes many of the effects of imperialism on the conquered peoples, their culture, economy, and religion, as well as how some groups of people suffered genocide at the hands of the conquerors. He explained how most countries that were forced into colonialism often did not have a choice because the imperial forces had much greater military technology. He also pointed out some of the arguments or justification of colonizing other nations, such as the fact that "almost all colonized areas developed more rapidly than they would have done if they had remained independent." This book was filled with historical facts and many thought provoking ideas, and would be great for aiding discussion in a college history course.
Stephen Howe describes many of the effects of imperialism on the conquered peoples, their culture, economy, and religion, as well as how some groups of people suffered genocide at the hands of the conquerors. He explained how most countries that were forced into colonialism often did not have a choice because the imperial forces had much greater military technology. He also pointed out some of the arguments or justification of colonizing other nations, such as the fact that "almost all colonized areas developed more rapidly than they would have done if they had remained independent." This book was filled with historical facts and many thought provoking ideas, and would be great for aiding discussion in a college history course.
December 10, 2017
This book does not explain a concept, rather a word. You may read this book to understand the concept of empires, but it mostly covers colonial empires and just mentions other empires now and then. The annoying part is that when the author tries to mention other nations empires, it is in the context of: "Experts ignore non-white empires." then why the hell are you doing the same thing?!!
August 20, 2016
What a great little book.
Initially I planned to use it just to thumb through but it was that well-structured and had such useful arguments in that I ended up taking 21 pages of notes (may as well have re-written the book)!
I'm doing a UG university module on World Empires and this helped me mentally piece together quite a lot of what I learned over the term and left a lot of thinking points that were easy to expand on and fit my lecture notes into.
The only downside to it is that in the first half of the book, Howe includes very few examples. A lot of the viewpoints are 'some say' and 'many argue' instead of actually giving us an example of who argues these points which would help a student out a great deal more!
I'd highly recommend it to a student, it's not a 'fun' read but it's exactly the concise overview needed to get to grips with world empires through history. If read alongside Burbank and Cooper's 'Empires in World History' it really helps to add a skeletal structure to the detail that book goes into which, if you're dipping in and out of it rather than reading it from cover to cover, is really helpful in getting to grips with wider context alongside more detailed reading.
Initially I planned to use it just to thumb through but it was that well-structured and had such useful arguments in that I ended up taking 21 pages of notes (may as well have re-written the book)!
I'm doing a UG university module on World Empires and this helped me mentally piece together quite a lot of what I learned over the term and left a lot of thinking points that were easy to expand on and fit my lecture notes into.
The only downside to it is that in the first half of the book, Howe includes very few examples. A lot of the viewpoints are 'some say' and 'many argue' instead of actually giving us an example of who argues these points which would help a student out a great deal more!
I'd highly recommend it to a student, it's not a 'fun' read but it's exactly the concise overview needed to get to grips with world empires through history. If read alongside Burbank and Cooper's 'Empires in World History' it really helps to add a skeletal structure to the detail that book goes into which, if you're dipping in and out of it rather than reading it from cover to cover, is really helpful in getting to grips with wider context alongside more detailed reading.
February 18, 2013
Serviceable little book of about a hundred pages. It won me over right from the introduction by citing both the 'Evil Empire' of Star Wars, and Sauron's 'schemes to rule over all' in The Lord of the Rings as examples.
September 12, 2023
Idk I liked it. There's a LOT of info to be had and Howe manages to cover all the bases in a cohesive way.
July 21, 2025
This guy is not a fan of McDonald's.
January 27, 2022
I have followed the work on Stephen Howe very sincerely. This book will definitely deconstruct the myth of modern notion of empire by tracing its historical growth but at times sounds very cumbersome and pedantic. Would love to see its revised edition of the book with some more new insights.
May 20, 2014
Snappy overview of Empires of all types - we might think that empires are an historical artifact but look at Putin's Russia....
December 4, 2019
Although this series is not uniformly good, it generally does fulfill its appointed task of providing a very short introduction on a given subject. And empire itself is a highly contentious subject that deserves at least some attempt to wrestle with one's assumptions about what makes an empire and whether it should be viewed as a descriptive term or as a pejorative one. The author is wise enough to delicately wade through the minefield of ambiguity concerning the term and in pointing out the different assumptions that people make when using terms like imperialism and colonialism and neo-colonialism (all of which are discussed here), he does yeoman service in allowing the reader to understand the unclear rhetoric that makes this term and its use far less straightforward than by all rights it ought to be. And while the book does leave somewhat unclear the author's own opinions about particular empires, that is for the best as readers are likely to come to this book with very different views on empire and somewhat varying opinions on how particular empires are to be evaluated as well. And if this book helps us be more clear about what we mean, that is definitely for the best.
This book is a short one at a bit more than 100 pages and it is divided into five chapters and a bit of other material. The author begins with a list of illustrations and then an introduction that shows the many facets of empire that are to be found in our daily news, whether we are looking at stories of post-imperial conflicts or the sports pages. The author then discusses who an imperialist is (1), pointing out the various assumptions made about empire and who counts as an imperialist based upon one's political worldview. There is then a discussion of empire by land (2) that shows how many empires were built through conquest and inheritance, including the settlement of Argentina, the United States, and Russia, for example as well as a discussion of empire by sea (3), the model that best describes the British or Dutch empires, for example. After that there is a discussion of the ends and aftermaths of empire (4) and how they are to be studied and judged (5) in a way that is fair. The book then ends with references, suggestions for further reading, and an index, the usual sort of material.
My own views of empire are somewhat mixed. I am hostile to the denial of freedoms and identity that tends to come with empire and believe that America's anti-imperialist identity is made hypocritical by the possession of a formal empire, but at the same time as a nationalist and as a proud European-American I can see how empires have benefited the world as a whole by providing resources for those people who are best fit to use it and paying enough for them to help develop areas that would otherwise be neglected and ignored. And given that even the sort of free trade and wide commercial ties that I would favor are viewed as informal empire, clearly someone with views like my own cannot be a doctrinaire foe of imperialism, which is at least one of the likely points of the book and its approach. To the extent that people realize their own biases and perspectives when it comes to empire and what sort of imperial behavior gets their hackles up and which they support, this book will definitely have a successful role in making this contentious subject at least more clear if not more agreed upon.
This book is a short one at a bit more than 100 pages and it is divided into five chapters and a bit of other material. The author begins with a list of illustrations and then an introduction that shows the many facets of empire that are to be found in our daily news, whether we are looking at stories of post-imperial conflicts or the sports pages. The author then discusses who an imperialist is (1), pointing out the various assumptions made about empire and who counts as an imperialist based upon one's political worldview. There is then a discussion of empire by land (2) that shows how many empires were built through conquest and inheritance, including the settlement of Argentina, the United States, and Russia, for example as well as a discussion of empire by sea (3), the model that best describes the British or Dutch empires, for example. After that there is a discussion of the ends and aftermaths of empire (4) and how they are to be studied and judged (5) in a way that is fair. The book then ends with references, suggestions for further reading, and an index, the usual sort of material.
My own views of empire are somewhat mixed. I am hostile to the denial of freedoms and identity that tends to come with empire and believe that America's anti-imperialist identity is made hypocritical by the possession of a formal empire, but at the same time as a nationalist and as a proud European-American I can see how empires have benefited the world as a whole by providing resources for those people who are best fit to use it and paying enough for them to help develop areas that would otherwise be neglected and ignored. And given that even the sort of free trade and wide commercial ties that I would favor are viewed as informal empire, clearly someone with views like my own cannot be a doctrinaire foe of imperialism, which is at least one of the likely points of the book and its approach. To the extent that people realize their own biases and perspectives when it comes to empire and what sort of imperial behavior gets their hackles up and which they support, this book will definitely have a successful role in making this contentious subject at least more clear if not more agreed upon.
March 21, 2020
Empire
Stephen Howe
A Very Short Introduction #76
A good book; but I think it needed to be more focused on the subject itself rather than going on tangents; it did not explain enough what it is "Empire" and why it was formed nor why every culture seek to establish it, but it covers lots of Empires throughout the history of the world.
Not bad though, very informative.
Stephen Howe
A Very Short Introduction #76
A good book; but I think it needed to be more focused on the subject itself rather than going on tangents; it did not explain enough what it is "Empire" and why it was formed nor why every culture seek to establish it, but it covers lots of Empires throughout the history of the world.
Not bad though, very informative.
A great deal of the world’s history is the history of empires. Indeed it could be said that all history is imperial – or colonial – history.
An empire is a large, composite, multi-ethnic or multinational political unit, usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate, sometimes far distant, peripheries.
Imperialism is used to mean the actions and attitudes which create or uphold such big political units – but also less obvious and direct kinds of control or domination by one person or country over others.
Colonialism is something more specific and strictly political: systems of rule by one group over another, where the first claims the right to exercise exclusive sovereignty over the second and to shape its destiny.
The Islamic militants who attacked New York and Washington on 9/11 believed they were striking a blow against imperialism. To most Americans and Europeans, such a claim seemed utterly grotesque. But many people in poorer countries, even if they did not approve of these murderous acts, seemed to understand very well what the attackers said they were about.
March 25, 2021
This book is kind of a literature book written using a hard to understand language. I was expecting to get very good perspectives by reading it but it was a tota disappointment.
As a reader, I felt like reading a Harvard Business Review article that requires my whole attention to understand each and every sentence.. and not to forget paragraphs in this book are literally as complex as English literature books. I felt exhausted in couple of minutes everytime I started to read.
In my opinion, it should not have been written in such an approach which makes reader loose focus on what is being told than being bogged down while demystifying what author ties to tell.
About the content? yes, there are questions left for the reader to think about and I think although events are explained factfully that not all the content related to those are objective.
As a reader, I felt like reading a Harvard Business Review article that requires my whole attention to understand each and every sentence.. and not to forget paragraphs in this book are literally as complex as English literature books. I felt exhausted in couple of minutes everytime I started to read.
In my opinion, it should not have been written in such an approach which makes reader loose focus on what is being told than being bogged down while demystifying what author ties to tell.
About the content? yes, there are questions left for the reader to think about and I think although events are explained factfully that not all the content related to those are objective.
August 18, 2018
A great short introduction for the study of empires, arranged around themes and covering the entire history from Alexander to America, in less than 150 pages. It breezes through, naturally, some of the more intriguing events and ideas, but that is precisely what it is for - to generate interest. I would have personally preferred a more exhaustive reading list, particularly of novels and memoirs, but that is the only complaint I have with this otherwise brilliant book.
February 16, 2022
A great introductory book that presents historical processes and terms in a clear and detailed way. Presents the disagreements on the term and how it is being framed by incumbents and academics. Unpacks the relations of global trade, economic system and the formation of legacies that shapes today's politics along with others. The quotes he uses also fit in well and provide a good understanding of the context.
January 23, 2023
A decent and quick introduction to the concept of empires throughout history. It does get weaker near the end though. And does have a single factual error which I noticed due to how bizarre it is. The author claims that there are indigenous people in Antarctica. For the life of me, I cannot find any records of any. All data states that there are none.
Otherwise, a good introduction for beginners wanting to understand empires in general.
Otherwise, a good introduction for beginners wanting to understand empires in general.
March 23, 2025
(Un)Surprisingly relevant and thoughtful. Having been published in 2002, the book is able to poke at some aspects of Empire in the 21st Century, which turned out to be mostly right on the mark.
As a “very short introduction”, it paints a clear picture of the legacies of (colonial) empire, though it was far more nuanced and inclusive than I expected. Written in short, accessible paragraphs, it was a pleasant read and inspired for more.
As a “very short introduction”, it paints a clear picture of the legacies of (colonial) empire, though it was far more nuanced and inclusive than I expected. Written in short, accessible paragraphs, it was a pleasant read and inspired for more.
January 26, 2020
Nice overview touching on core concepts and key debates concerning imperialism (mostly western) but also touching on eastern empires as well. Only critique is that I wish there had been more of an explicit focus somewhere within the book to imperial / post colonial literature and the influence that’s had on empire in practice and as ideology
May 28, 2021
The book provides an overview of the history of empire. It highlights the diversity of colonial political and social formations. British empire, for instance, had no uniform manifestation in its colonies. It had to work out different arrangements, political or otherwise, in different colonies to sustain its rule. The book also sheds light on the diverse impacts and legacies of colonization across postcolonial countries. While some countries experienced transformations at many levels due to the colonial encounter, others didn't undergo change to the same extent. Decolonization, and the processes that led to it, was facilitated by a range of factors, acting in combination, from anti-colonial nationalist movement to increasing costs of maintaining colonial possessions on the part of the colonial powers due to changed international context. As such, it would be a grand mistake to attribute one factor as the primary cause of decolonization. Overall, the book does a good job of presenting a well-rounded account of empire underlining the nuances and complexities related to the topic at hand.
January 14, 2024
4.5 stars
I read this for my Empire and Post-Imperialism class. It does exactly what it says - gives a short introduction to empire. I found it informative and fairly easy to read. I do have beef with my professor for assigning chapters 1-5 of the book, which prompted my realization that there are only five chapters.
I read this for my Empire and Post-Imperialism class. It does exactly what it says - gives a short introduction to empire. I found it informative and fairly easy to read. I do have beef with my professor for assigning chapters 1-5 of the book, which prompted my realization that there are only five chapters.
October 9, 2017
It's a good read. Adequate number of points are mentioned to explain the terms empire, imperialism and colonialism. It also gives a review of a few empires, their expansion and their decline in brief.
September 4, 2019
An excellent brief introduction to the concept and history of empire. Howe does and excellent job of choosing specific events and details to illustrate his broader points about imperialism, land and sea empires, and the aftermath of imperial systems.
October 26, 2023
Breathless, in short words one of the few centrist books that doesn't deliver a "middle point fallacy" on the subject. In many parts delivers some very quotable bits and concrete resumes on the development of the concept, the difference with colonialism and such.
October 21, 2025
2.5🌟
Didn't have a great time reading it, learnt a few things but definitely nothing that made me want to search certain things more in details. Would recommend though if you'd like a general overview of the concept.
Didn't have a great time reading it, learnt a few things but definitely nothing that made me want to search certain things more in details. Would recommend though if you'd like a general overview of the concept.
January 2, 2019
Excellent introduction to a variety of notable land and sea empires, as well as a balanced description of ideas and scholarship around imperialism and colonialism.
December 12, 2019
Too many lazy, unsubstantiated speculations presented as fact. Gave up after about 25%.
September 2, 2020
This series is generally good, but I found this one particularly so.
February 12, 2021
Chapter 1: Who's an imperialist?
Chapter 2: Empire by land
Chapter 3: Empire by sea
Chapter 4: Ends and aftermaths of empire
Chapter 5: Studying and judging empires
Chapter 2: Empire by land
Chapter 3: Empire by sea
Chapter 4: Ends and aftermaths of empire
Chapter 5: Studying and judging empires
April 24, 2022
ngl did not love this
June 12, 2025
video book review: https://youtu.be/ZBfnXMP6qyc
A good primer for exploring what empire was, is, and may be in the future.
A good primer for exploring what empire was, is, and may be in the future.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews