Dreamworlds of Race: Empire and the Utopian Destiny of Anglo-America

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How transatlantic thinkers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries promoted the unification of Britain and the United States Between the late nineteenth century and the First World War an ocean-spanning network of prominent individuals advocated the unification of Britain and the United States. They dreamt of the final consolidation

Reviews

"Winner of the TSA/CUP Book Prize, Transatlantic Studies Association and Cambridge University Press"
"Shortlisted for the BISA Susan Strange Best Book Prize, British International Studies Association"
"One of Foreign Affairs' Best Books"
"Largely forgotten today, however, is that era of history when there occurred not only a 'Great Rapprochement' between the two nations but also debates about the possibility of reuniting the 'Republic and the Empire' on the basis of a shared Anglo-Saxon racial destiny. . . . Duncan Bells remarkable book Dreamworlds of Race brings that history to light with both scholarly rigor and narrative flair."---Bassam Sidiki, Los Angeles Review of Books
"In the United Kingdom and the United States in the late nineteenth century, a multitude of thinkers advanced new and often startling visions of the future of the global order. In this masterly book, Bell explores the ideas of some of the most intriguing figures of this era, illuminating their dreams of a world-dominating Anglo-American political community united by race and empire. This is intellectual history at its best."---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs
"Dreamworlds of Race is a powerful and profound statement that provides a definitive intellectual history of imperial era thought and deftly demonstrates its inseparability from liberalism and racial and cultural hierarchy. For students of history, politics, international relations, and even literature, its interdisciplinary appeal should make it essential reading. Ranging in widely in scope, and written with elegance and aplomb, the work is a distinguished and indispensable contribution to our understanding of how geo-political fear and ambition rested on highly racialized conceptions of nation and empire."---Robert Singh, Ethnic & Racial Studies
"Dreamworlds of Race deserves to be read by a wide audience. It is an excellent work drawing together numerous strands of Anglo-American imaginations and revealing the tensions and hopes pinned on utopian racial thinking."---James Watts, Journal of Victorian Culture
"A hugely impressive, and topic defining, achievement. . . . The larger portrait Bell paints is not only fascinating and important, it provides an illuminating context for Wellss thought and art."---Adam Roberts, The Wellsian
"An engaging read . . . . Bell is admirably well-read and manages to guide the reader through a myriad of different theories, thinkers and writings."---Christian K. Melby, Nations and Nationalism
"Dreamworlds is a highly-topical window into these complex, often (self) contradictory visions of Anglo-America that build on race, power, and propaganda. . . . Bells opus is as much a necessary read for those seeking to better comprehend the world order reimaginings in the period . . . as British PM Boris Johnsons contemporary Global Britain."---Stephanie Prvost, European Review of International Studies

Author Bio

Duncan Bell is Professor of Political Thought and International Relations at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Christs College. He is the author of Reordering the World and The Idea of Greater Britain (both Princeton).