From ancient times to our modern age, western empires have shaped societies around the world. Imperial powers have impacted all aspects of human experience as well as the natural world; from trade patterns and migration to sexuality, race and the environment. The rise of cultural history has brought to the fore new methods, archives and perspectives that shape how we think about histories of empire from the ancient world to the modern day. A Cultural History of Western Empires seeks to explore the role of culture in shaping how empire took root, took shape, was maintained and challenged.

This volume explores the cultural history of western empires during the ‘age of empire’, the long 19th century when western empires claimed more territory and global influence than ever before or since. Guiding the reader through eight carefully chosen themes; war, trade, natural worlds, labor, mobility, sexuality, resistance and race across eight chapters, it shows how representation and identity cannot be separated from the material power relations of empire, and highlights how cultural history can provide new insights into the study of imperial power and colonial relations.

A Cultural History of Western Empires presents historians, and scholars and students of related fields, with the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of the cultural history of empire from ancient times to modernity.