The Dynamics of Global Dominance: European Overseas Empires, 1415-1980

This survey of the rise and decline of European overseas empires asks how and why these empires were formed, persisted, and eventually fell. In a discussion that encompasses European and non-European actors as well as the economic, social, cultural and political dimensions of empire, David Abernethy explains Europe's long occupation of global centre stage and seeks to throw new light on today's postcolonial world and the legacies of empire.