Captives: Britain, Empire and the World: 1600 - 1850 - Hardcover

In Captives: Britain, Empire, and the World, 1600-1850, Linda Colley exposes a perspective of the Imperial Britain that goes against traditional history. Although Britain experienced expansion at an unprecedented rate during the late 1600s until the mid-1800s, it had spread itself too thin across the globe. The British navy, its manpower, was unable to effectively control the vast number of territories claimed by the Britain. The money and physical presence was never fully effective at dominating the areas. Instead, these territories often influenced their colonist and government more than traditional historians care to admit. In Captives, Colley divides her work into three parts. The first concentrates on Britain in the Mediterranean, a costly venture seldom mentioned in British Imperialism. The second third focuses on the relationship between the British and natives in North America and how the fear of captivity influenced those that colonized America for Britain. And India, the country whose rough relationship with Britain both made and destroyed careers. While the history of African slavery in the West is immense, accounts of British slavery in the Eastern Hemisphere was seldom recorded and receives less research from both older and newer historians. Colley hides no biases as she uncovers a history that she argues is neglected.