Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire provides the first wide-ranging environmental history of the heyday of European imperialism, from the late nineteenth century to the end of the colonial era. It focuses on the ecological dimensions of the explosive growth of tropical commodity production, global trade, and modern resource management-transformations that still visibly shape our world today-and how they were related to broader social, cultural, and political developments in Europe's colonies. Covering the overseas empires of all the major European powers, Corey Ross argues that tropical environments were not merely a stage on which conquest and subjugation took place, but were an essential part of the colonial project, profoundly shaping the imperial enterprise even as they were shaped by it. The story he tells is not only about the complexities of human experience, but also about people's relationship with the ecosystems in which they were themselves embedded: the soil, water, plants, and animals that were likewise a part of Europe's empire. Although it shows that imperial conquest rarely represented a sudden bout of ecological devastation, it nonetheless demonstrates that modern imperialism marked a decisive and largely negative milestone for the natural environment. By relating the expansion of modern empire, global trade, and mass consumption to the momentous ecological shifts that they entailed, this book provides a historical perspective on the vital nexus of social, political, and environmental issues that we face in the twenty-first-century world.

About the Author
Corey Ross is Professor of Modern History at the University of Birmingham and the author of several books on the history of mass media and popular culture, heritage and ancestral pasts, and everyday life under state socialism, with a particular focus on Germany. Since arriving at Birmingham in 1998, he has held an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at the Freie Universitat Berlin, a J. Walter Thompson Fellowship at Duke University, a guest professorship at the Universite Paris-II, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, and a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. His primary research interests are in global environmental history, modern imperialism, and modern European social and cultural history.

Reviews
An impressive tour de force of colonial environmental history ... A really impressive book on how ecological resources were claimed, used and spoiled by colonial agents, from individuals to states. * Maurits W. Ertsen, Agricultural History Review *
...imperial historians will find the environmental framework, especially when so broadly applied, a valuable way to interpret the impact of Europe's various empires on the modern world. Ross exposes similarities and highlights differences between differing imperial approaches and those of the indigenous populations, allowing for an incredibly nuanced presentation of shared ideas and practices applied to commodities across empires, concluding with their legacies. Environmental historians too will find much of interest in Ross's approach to explaining how the latter stages of empire helped influence future environmental development policy and thinking. * Rob Joy, University of Southampton, Journal of Contemporary History *
Ross is a fine writer who lays out his analyses in lucid narratives * Roger L. Albin, University of Michigan, Journal of World History *
brilliant * Adam Rome, Summer Reads 2018, Nature *
Ross's Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire is a genuine tour de force that will surely be a landmark book in both environmental history and imperial history. It takes a synthetic, multi-empire approach in the period since the 1860s, surveying the ecological contexts and consequences of colonial economies as well as growing imperial interest in resource conservation. Ross focuses on the tropical regions of Asia and Africa, taking the reader from the tin mines of Malaya to the cocoa plantations of West Africa with many stops in between. Ross's prose is agreeable and his arguments clear. His research in the specialist literature and published primary sources in English, French, Dutch, and German is thorough. Altogether a superb achievement and a great service to historians and other lovers of history. * J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University *
it is easy to envision Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire fitting comfortably into a range of teaching scenarios, from advanced undergraduate courses to graduate seminars on environmental history, world history, and empire ... It is a tremendous pleasure to review a masterwork. Its author should be heartily commended for producing such a wide-ranging, readable, and engaging book. I look forward to assigning Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire to many current and future students. * Edward D. Melillo, American Historical Review *
surprisingly readable, well-footnoted, and context-setting review of tropical wildlife conservation ... In this work, students will find an excellent bibliography of 1,106 entries, 1,544 footnotes, and superb reviews of the history of cotton, chocolate (cocoa), rubber, tin, copper, and oil. The book is highly readable with insights throughout for social scientists, conservation biologists, agronomists, and ecologists ... Recommended. * CHOICE *


Awards
Winner of Winner of the 2018 George Louis Beer Prize, awarded by the American Historical Association..



Book Information
ISBN 9780199590414
Author Corey Ross
Format Hardback
Page Count 488
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 840g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 174mm * 34mm