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

This magisterial survey of the rise and decline of European overseas empires asks how and why these empires took shape, persisted, and finally fell. In a discussion that encompasses European and non-European actors as well as the economic, social, cultural, and political dimensions of empire, David B. Abernethy explains Europe's long occupation of global center stage and throws new light on today's postcolonial world and the legacies of empire.