Empire in Asia: A New Global History

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Asia was the principle focus of empire-builders from Alexander and Akbar to Chinggis Khan and Qianlong and yet, until now, there has been no attempt to provide a comprehensive history of empire in the region. Empire in Asia addresses the need for a thorough survey of the topic. Volume I traces the evolution of a constellation of competing empires in Asia from the 13th through to the 18th centuries. It describes the history and characteristic features of imperial regimes in each major sub-region of Asia, from the Ottomans and Safavids in the West, Romanovs in the North, Mughals in the South, the Mongols & their successors in Inner Asia, to the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the East. Volume II covers the long 19th century, commonly seen in terms of high imperialism and the global projection of Western power. It explores the dynamic, volatile and contested processes by which, by the early years of the 20th century, Asian states, space and peoples became deeply integrated into the wider dynamics of global reordering. The two volumes of Empire in Asia offer a significant contribution to the theory and practice of empire when considered globally and comparatively and are essential reading for all students and scholars of global, imperial and Asian history.

Reviews

[A] useful survey of an enormously complex subject. It seems to this reviewer that the ideal audience for this text would be advanced undergraduates and early graduate students. * Pacific Historical Review *
Empire is a dirty word, more often than not associated with Europe's expansion overseas. But many of the world's most powerful empires were in Asia, and they too battled for more territory. In this engagingly written and carefully crafted volume, some of the best scholars in the field bring much needed clarity to the many ways in which empire became truly global in the nineteenth century, with repercussions that can be felt to his day. * Frank Diktter, Chair Professor of Humanities, University of Hong Kong, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and author of Mao's Great Famine (2011) - of Volume II *
Fairey, Brunero, and Farrell have assembled a remarkably far-reaching book, whose many contributions to the debate on empires in Asian and world history are at once provocative and innovative. Weaving together the histories of Asian empires and European empires in Asia from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, this work poses new questions and challenges established concepts, chronologies, and narratives of both modernity and empire. The Asian perspective offers another vista to a history of globalization in which empires, both East and West, were prime agents, and in that lies the most valuable contribution of this extensive and stimulating collection of studies. * Nicola Di Cosmo, LUCE Foundation Professor in East Asian Studies, Institute of Advanced Study, University of London, UK *

Author Bio

Brian P. Farrell is Professor of Military History at the National University of Singapore. His publications include The Defence and Fall of Singapore, 1940-1942 (2005), The Basis and Making of British Grand Strategy 1940-43 (1998) and Between Two Oceans: A Military History of Singapore from 1275 to 1971 (1999).