Liberalism, imperialism and the historical imagination
Subtitle: nineteenth century visions of Greater Britain
By: by Theodore Koditschek
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge; new York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 351
ISBN-13: 9780521767910
Subjects: Historiography; Imperialism; Liberalism; History
Description: "This book examines the ways in which imperial agendas informed the writing of history in nineteenth-century Britain and how historical writing transformed imperial agendas. Using the published writings and personal papers of Walter Scott, J. A. Froude, James Mill, Rammohun Roy, T. B. Macaulay, E. A. Freeman, W. E. Gladstone, and J. R. Seeley among others, Theodore Koditschek sheds new light on the role of the historical imagination in the establishment and legitimation of liberal imperialism. He shows how both imperialists and the imperialized were drawn to reflect back on Empire's past as a result of the need to construct a modern, multi-national British imperial identity for a more economically expansive and enlightened present. By tracing the imperial lives and historical works of these pivotal figures, Theodore Koditschek illuminates the ways in which discourse altered practice, and vice versa, as well as how the history of Empire was continuously written and re-written." -- Publisher's information.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Imagining Great Britain : Union, Empire, and the burden of history, 1800-1830; title: Imagining a British India : history and reconstruction of Empire; title: Imagining a Greater Britain : the Macaulays and the liberal romance of Empire; title: Re-imagining a Greater Britain : J.A. Froude: counter-romance and controversy; title: Greater Britain and the "lesser breeds" : liberalism, race, and evolutionary history; title: Indian liberals and Great Britain : the search for union through history; title: Epilogue : from liberal imperialism to conservative unionism : losing the thread of progress in history.