A World of Empires

The Russian Voyage of the Frigate Pallada

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, European, Eastern European, Nonfiction, History, Modern, 19th Century, Asian, Russia
Cover of the book A World of Empires by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska, Harvard University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska ISBN: 9780674985704
Publisher: Harvard University Press Publication: April 16, 2018
Imprint: Harvard University Press Language: English
Author: Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
ISBN: 9780674985704
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication: April 16, 2018
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Language: English

Many people are familiar with American Commodore Matthew Perry’s expedition to open trade relations with Japan in the early 1850s. Less well known is that on the heels of the Perry squadron followed a Russian expedition secretly on the same mission. Serving as secretary to the naval commander was novelist Ivan Goncharov, who turned his impressions into a book, The Frigate Pallada, which became a bestseller in imperial Russia. In A World of Empires, Edyta Bojanowska uses Goncharov’s fascinating travelogue as a window onto global imperial history in the mid-nineteenth century. Reflecting on encounters in southern Africa’s Cape Colony, Dutch Java, Spanish Manila, Japan, and the British ports of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, Goncharov offers keen observations on imperial expansion, cooperation, and competition. Britain’s global ascendancy leaves him in equal measures awed and resentful. In Southeast Asia, he recognizes an increasingly interlocking world in the vibrant trading hubs whose networks encircle the globe. Traveling overland back home, Goncharov presents Russia’s colonizing rule in Siberia as a positive imperial model, contrasted with Western ones. Slow to be integrated into the standard narrative on European imperialism, Russia emerges here as an increasingly assertive empire, eager to position itself on the world stage among its American and European rivals and fully conversant with the ideologies of civilizing mission and race. Goncharov’s gripping narrative offers a unique eyewitness account of empire in action, in which Bojanowska finds both a zeal to emulate European powers and a determination to define Russia against them.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Many people are familiar with American Commodore Matthew Perry’s expedition to open trade relations with Japan in the early 1850s. Less well known is that on the heels of the Perry squadron followed a Russian expedition secretly on the same mission. Serving as secretary to the naval commander was novelist Ivan Goncharov, who turned his impressions into a book, The Frigate Pallada, which became a bestseller in imperial Russia. In A World of Empires, Edyta Bojanowska uses Goncharov’s fascinating travelogue as a window onto global imperial history in the mid-nineteenth century. Reflecting on encounters in southern Africa’s Cape Colony, Dutch Java, Spanish Manila, Japan, and the British ports of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, Goncharov offers keen observations on imperial expansion, cooperation, and competition. Britain’s global ascendancy leaves him in equal measures awed and resentful. In Southeast Asia, he recognizes an increasingly interlocking world in the vibrant trading hubs whose networks encircle the globe. Traveling overland back home, Goncharov presents Russia’s colonizing rule in Siberia as a positive imperial model, contrasted with Western ones. Slow to be integrated into the standard narrative on European imperialism, Russia emerges here as an increasingly assertive empire, eager to position itself on the world stage among its American and European rivals and fully conversant with the ideologies of civilizing mission and race. Goncharov’s gripping narrative offers a unique eyewitness account of empire in action, in which Bojanowska finds both a zeal to emulate European powers and a determination to define Russia against them.

More books from Harvard University Press

Cover of the book The Politics of Mourning by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book Entrepreneurial Litigation by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book Hearing Things by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book Hitler's Shadow Empire by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book Hezbollah by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book Natural Experiments of History by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book The Ocean, the Bird, and the Scholar by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book Haunted by Chaos by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book On Glasgow and Edinburgh by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book Crime and Punishment in the Russian Revolution by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book Becoming Human by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book The Price of Aid by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book The World of Persian Literary Humanism by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book Only Words by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
Cover of the book The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours by Edyta M. Bojanowska Bojanowska
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy