Jane Burbank

There are a number of places in this book where I felt the authors let their criticisms of the US, and to a lesser extent of Europe, get out of balance with their criticisms of non-Western empires. E.g. there seemed to be an emphasis on the (well-studied, "popular") failings of Western colonialism but Ottoman and Chinese (historical and current) population destruction, movements, etc. were treated... blandly? Uncritically (in the common sense of the word)? This is perhaps the result of bias: as Americans (as I am) it is easier and more comfortable (in the dominant academic and progressive culture, clearly not in conservative or reactionary segments) to "judge" ourselves.

To be clear (see 5 stars) this did not diminish the book greatly, in my view, but it did stick out in a number of places. That critique aside, this book explores how empires have managed people throughout history and indirectly (and in one or two places in the conclusion more directly) asks the questions, "Were/are empires all bad?" and, "What has nationalism/the nation-state gotten wrong?"… (mer)