Visions of Empire

Resumen del libro

What the rulers of empire can teach us about navigating today's increasingly interconnected worldThe empires of the past were far-flung experiments in multinationalism and multiculturalism, and they have much to teach us about navigating our own increasingly globalized world. Visions of Empire sheds critical new light on their rulers--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 civilization to the rest of the world.

This compelling 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.

Biografía del autor

Krishan Kumar (1942, Trinidad y Tobago) es profesor de Sociología en la Universidad de Virginia, y fue profesor de Pensamiento social y político en la Universidad de Kent en Canterbury, Inglaterra. Ha sido profesor visitante en las universidades de Harvard, Bristol, Colorado y la École des hautes études en sciences sociales de París, entre otras, así como miembro del Instituto de Estudios Avanzados de Princeton. También ha sido productor del departamento de charlas y documentales en la BBC.