Imperialism and its Contradictions

by Victor G. Kiernan

V.G. Kiernan is recognized as one of the most remarkable historians of the twentieth century. Eric Hobsbawm says of Kiernan that his knowledge is "encyclopedic" and Edward Said refers to his writings on imperialism as "milestones." In Imperialism and Its Contradictions , Kiernan critically addresses the origins, consequences and legacies of modern imperialism and colonialism, discussing the imperial experience in its totality.

Sensitive to the tragic and ironic character of human history, Kiernan considers and reflects upon the political, economic and cultural dimensions of the imperial experience and how it has shaped the lives and social orders of Europeans and non-Europeans alike.

Issues treated in Imperialism and Its Contradictions include the question of the relationship between the rise of capitalism and the making of Europe's overseas empires; the creation of colonial armies and their political uses; the dialectic of imperialism and revolution; the impact of imperialism on European culture; and the social and cultural problems confronting a post-imperial and multicultural Britain. The book also includes Kiernan's discussion of the work of Antonio Gramsci and its implications for the study of imperialism.

232 pages, Paperback

First published November 23, 1994

About the author

Professor Victor Gordon Kiernan was an English Marxist historian and a former member of the Communist Party Historians Group with a particular focus on the history of imperialism. He was Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Nathan Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book that makes me, once again, indignant at Goodreads for not allowing half-star ratings (this would be a 2.5). Encyclopedic and relentlessly phrase-turning in that distinctly British way, but also I sometimes wish he would bring the gavel down on an actual argument. Also, and I am not one to deploy this critique often as it comes with the territory, but honestly alarmingly Eurocentric at times.