The empires of the past were far-flung experiments in multinationalism and multiculturalism, and have much to teach us about navigating our own increasingly globalized and interconnected world. Until now, most recent scholarship on empires has focused on their subject peoples. Visions of Empire looks at their rulers, shedding critical new light on who they were, how they justif...
The empires of the past were far-flung experiments in multinationalism and multiculturalism, and have much to teach us about navigating our own increasingly globalized and interconnected world. Until now, most recent scholarship on empires has focused on their subject peoples. Visions of Empire looks at their rulers, shedding critical new light on who they were, how they justified their empires, how they viewed themselves, and the styles of rule they adopted toward their subjects.
Krishan Kumar provides panoramic and multifaceted portraits of five major European empires--Ottoman, Habsburg, Russian/Soviet, British, and French--showing how each, like ancient Rome, saw itself as the carrier of universal civilization to the rest of the world. Sometimes these aims were couched in religious terms, as with Islam for the Ottomans or Catholicism for the Habsburgs. Later, the imperial missions took more secular forms, as with British political traditions or the world communism of the Soviets.
Visions of Empire offers new insights into the interactions between rulers and ruled, revealing how empire was as much a shared enterprise as a clash of oppositional interests. It explores how these empires differed from nation-states, particularly in how the ruling peoples of empires were forced to downplay or suppress their own national or ethnic identities in the interests of the long-term preservation of their rule. This compelling and in-depth book demonstrates how the rulers of empire, in their quest for a universal world order, left behind a legacy of multiculturalism and diversity that is uniquely relevant for us today.
Krishan Kumar is University Professor and William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia. His books include The Idea of Englishness: English Culture, National Identity, and Social Thought; From Post-Industrial to Post-Modern Society: New Theories of the Contemporary World; and 1989: Revolutionary Ideas and Ideals.
序言 帝国研究的复兴，人们似乎不再坚信在未来民族国家是最好的或唯一的国家形式（But, more important, it may also be an indication that many people are no longer convinced that the nation- state is the best or only form with which to confront the future. xi.）...
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克里尚·库马尔 作者
Izayoi Aki 4.2
中信出版集团股份有限公司2019版
Fal Conde
中信出版集团股份有限公司2019版
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宸文
中信出版社2023版
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中信出版社2023版
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中信出版社2023版
0 有用 诚明 2022-04-18 11:45:04
第一章不错
0 有用 东木 2023-12-04 03:20:41 美国
确实不太明白这种书怎么能得奖，作者对empire的偏爱让一些书评作者都看不下去了。第一章还有些用处。作者在框架上想要破除empire到nation-state转变这套叙事。这个立场有意无意地和对新清史的不满契合了，结果一查li huaiyin的文章，可不就把kumar这本书拿来站台了。
0 有用 Izayoi Aki 4.2 2023-03-31 23:56:26 浙江
好的问题意识和材料梳理，但没讲好故事，主线看似清晰但呈现出的效果不行。帝国真的能给民族国家在身份认同和族群共处方面带来经验吗？抛开具体的context没问题，但现实不是这样。当下更普遍的或许是民族国家内一个族群（比如主体民族）内吵得不可开交，这反而是帝国可能没遇到的情况。
0 有用 蕉下鹿 2019-07-04 03:07:47
nah，还不如一百年前Braudel