There is today a new interest in empires past and present. Scholars seek fresh ways of understanding a form of power far older than the modern nation state. Others see empire, not long ago assumed to be a mode of governance on the way out, as having a surprising new lease on life, and want to...

Intro -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Note on the 2001 Edition -- Author's Acknowledgments -- The Hundred Years' Peace -- Conservative Twenties, Revolutionary Thirties -- ''Habitation versus Improvement'' -- Societies and Economic Systems -- Evolution of the Market Pattern -- The...