Traces the development of a particular, contentious strand of modern British history, the "new imperial history," through the eyes of Antoinette Burton, who helped to shape the field

Featuring essays written by the influential historian Antoinette Burton since the mid-1990s, Empire in Question traces the development of a particular, contentious strand of modern British history, the “new imperial history,” through the eyes of a scholar who helped to shape the field. In her teaching and writing, Burton has insisted that the vectors of imperial power run in multiple directions, argued that race must be incorporated into history writing, and emphasized that gender and sexuality are critical dimensions of imperial history. Empire in Question includes Burton’s groundbreaking critiques of British historiography, as well as essays in which she brings theory to bear on topics from Jane Eyre to nostalgia for colonial India. Burton’s autobiographical introduction describes how her early encounters with feminist and postcolonial critique led to her convictions that we must ask who counts as a subject of imperial history, and that we should maintain a healthy skepticism regarding the claims to objectivity that shape much modern history writing. In the coda, she candidly reflects on shortcomings in her own thinking and in the new imperial history, and she argues that British history must be repositioned in relation to world history. Much of Burton’s writing emerged from her teaching; Empire in Question is meant to engage students and teachers in debates about how to think about British imperialism in light of contemporary events.

"“The development of the ‘new imperial history’ is considered in this book by a scholar who helped to shape the field. Antoinette Burton has insisted that the vectors of imperial power run in many directions and that race must be incorporated into history writing, and argued that gender and sexuality are critical dimensions of imperial history. This collection of essays includes her groundbreaking critiques of British historiography, as well as essays in which she views topics from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre to nostalgia for colonial India through the lens of theory, and a coda in which she candidly assesses shortcomings in her own thinking.”" - Times Higher Education

"“Empire in Question demonstrates the vitality of cultural studies in capturing the relational dynamics of gender and race and their entwined framing of the lived spaces of imperial rule.”" - Journal of Modern History

"“Burton's new book should be read by everyone interested in the history of the British Empire over the last two centuries. Burton has been a leader, as Bayly comments in his afterword, in destabilizing the Whiggish, white man's model of imperial history. Her book importantly challenges the ways in which historians and the publics they influence continue to think about imperialism (both British and American) as well as about globalization, race, gender, and the practice and teaching of history.”" - Review 19

" “[A]n important retrospective of new imperial history’s development into a vital approach to British historical studies…. Brought together as it is in this volume, Burton’s work demonstrates the challenges, but more so the vital importance, of continuing to push ourselves and British studies past these historiographical barriers to a fuller view of the multiplicity of peoples and places that shape historical and contemporary global systems.”" - Journal of World History

"“This is history with politics and scholarship bound up together, where anything can become the material of the historian if viewed with a discerning eye, where the present and the past are constantly in dialogue, constantly up for question.”" - History Workshop Journal

"“Antoinette Burton’s interrogation of empire has made reading, writing and teaching British imperialism a more stimulating and rewarding enterprise.”" - Journal of Victorian Culture Online

"“Antoinette Burton’s collection of articles in the book, Empire in Question show her theoretical acumen and serve as theoretical harbinger for future aspiring imperial historians.... This book is a treasure trove of information on imperial history and a necessary text for aspiring imperial historians, graduate students, and for those nostalgic for the Empire. It can only be hoped that such rethinking and researching of this nature would happen in the other areas of history of India as well.”" - Itinerario