A. G. Hopkins

A new history of the United States that turns American exceptionalism on its head. American Empire is a panoramic work of scholarship that presents a bold new global perspective on the history of the United States. Drawing on his expertise in economic history and the imperial histories of Britain and Europe, A. G. Hopkins takes readers from the colonial era to today to show how, far from diverging, the United States and Western Europe followed similar trajectories throughout this long period, and how America's dependency on Britain and Europe extended much later into the nineteenth century than previously understood. In a sweeping narrative spanning three centuries, Hopkins describes how the revolt of the mainland colonies was the product of a crisis that afflicted the imperial states of Europe generally, and how the history of the American republic between 1783 and 1865 was a response not to the termination of British influence but to its continued expansion. He traces how the creation of a U.S. industrial nation-state after the Civil War paralleled developments in Western Europe, fostered similar destabilizing influences, and found an outlet in imperialism through the acquisition of an insular empire in the Caribbean and Pacific. The period of colonial rule that followed reflected the history of the European empires in its ideological justifications, economic relations, and administrative principles. After 1945, a profound shift in the character of globalization brought the age of the great territorial empires to an end.

This book is the first work to offer a comprehensive account of the economic history of the huge area conventionally known as West Africa, including the former French territories as well as those colonised by the British. Ranging from prehistoric times to independence, the book presents an argument, based on the concept of the market, that criticises many conventional beliefs about econmic backwardness and advances an alternative set of explanations which takes into account, and contributes to, the latest studies in the fields of history, economics, anthropology and geography.

"This pioneering and celebrated work was the first, and remains the standard, account of the economic history of the huge area known as West Africa. This edition contains a substantial new Introduction that discusses the development of the subject in the past 50 years, evaluates the debate over the original interpretation, and provides a valuable guide to further reading. Appearing at a time when African economic history is enjoying a revival and engaging economists as well as historians, it fills a large gap in African studies, provides newcomers with a stimulating point of entry into the subject, and contributes to our understanding of wider issues of global underdevelopment"--