Peoples and Empires
A Short History of European Migration, Exploration, and Conquest, from Greece to the Present

This is a very good introduction on the European Conquest of the East and the New World. It is a concise history of the European colonialism. It starts with Alexander the Great's Empire, continues with the Roman Empire but it examines more thoroughly the seagoing empires like the Spanish and of cour......more

This is a brief but deep sweep of the history of the empire and what it means today. Beautifully written, the book explores the imperial 'idea' in all its variety and complexity, comparing and contrasting various European empires through the ages. It was perhaps never meant to be a comprehensive his......more

If you are not well-verse with the great ancient empires and history of the West, you may find it difficult to grasp the content of the book. Mr Pagden drops in numerous famous figures of the Western World on average 3-5 new people per page sometimes without introducing the readers to them. Neverthe......more

This book was a lot of fun. In just over 150 pages, Pagden offers a history of empire since Alexander the Great, and he does so without ignoring nuance and detail. He has a gift for picking the right pace, for choosing when to focus on details and when to fly through hundreds of years in a few parag......more

This very dated book was written at the height of a frenzied Clash of Civilisations with Islam. That's old hat. The epilogue needs changing for the current frenzied Clash of Civilisations with China. I kid. Beat most of your scythes into ploughshares, people! I consider it to be a valuable introductio......more