J. H. Elliott is Regius Professor Emeritus of Modern
History, University of Oxford. His previous books include The
Count-Duke of Olivares, A Palace for a King (with Jonathan Brown),
and Spain and Its World, 1500—1700, all published by Yale
University Press. Among the many honors he has received are the
Wolfson Prize for History, the Prince of Asturias Prize for the
Social Sciences, and the Balzan Prize for History.
"[A] magisterial comparative history of empire of the Americas. . .
. [A] richly textured comparative history. . . . [A]
meticulously researched and elegantly executed synthesis. . .
. Mr. Elliott’s achievement is to identify with brilliant clarity
the similarities and differences between British and Spanish
America while embroidering his analysis with memorable
details."—Niall Ferguson, Wall Street Journal
"[A] monumental analysis of two New World empires . . . Elliott . .
. uses the story of each colonisation to illuminate the other. He
challenges our prejudices about the Spanish conquest and the
patriotic myths that have grown up around the English one. There is
nothing black and white about this book. . . . Elliott's writing .
. . moves with a gentle rhythm of a sea swell to carry the reader
along."—Christian Tyler, Financial Times Magazine
"A handsome and fascinating study of the two colonisations, so
different in their scope, duration and outcome. The contrasts in
administration, treatment of the natives and economic viability are
intriguing."—Christian Tyler, Financial Times Magazine
"My favorite recent book of American history is, perhaps
surprisingly, by an English scholar of the history of Spain. A
model of comparative history, Empires succeeds in placing the
formative years of the area that became the United States in a
consistently illuminating hemispheric perspective."—Eric Foner, New
York Times Book Review
"Our current debate about immigration isn't only about clamping
down on the U.S.-Mexican border. It's also about what it means to
be an American after 9/11 and about how the nation is revamping the
concept of citizenship. And it's an opportunity to
reassess yet again, the relationship between the United States
and its neighbors to the south, a chance to reflect on the role of
Hispanic culture in the English-speaking world. For those eager to
understand the historical context behind these issues, I know of no
more comprehensive, readable source than J.H. Elliott's Empires of
the Atlantic World. . . . A feast of insights."—Ilan Stavans,
Washington Post Book World
"In a masterful account, Oxford don Elliott explores the
simultaneous development of Spanish and English colonies in the
so-called New World. . . . Elliott’s synthesis represents some of
the finest fruits of the study of the Atlantic World."—Publishers
Weekly
"Elliott's mastery of Spanish materials is especially impressive
and allows him to show how Spanish America 'was large enough to
provide the setting for a variety of holy experiments'. . . .
It is refreshing to read, towards the end of this brilliant,
compelling book, that in the British colonies 'a distinctively,
American identity' was not so much the cause of revolution as the
result."—Tom D'Evelyn, Christian Science Monitor
"Elliott . . . has long been universally acknowledged as the
world's foremost expert on the early modern Spanish monarchy. . . .
He has shown his mastery of the techniques of comparative history.
. . . Elliott's searching and open-minded scrutiny of the facts
overturns most conventional thinking. . . . Empires of the Atlantic
World has long been a subject in search of an author, and
Elliott has long been the author destined to fulfill the
role."—Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Literary Review
"The two stories have almost always been told in isolation: here,
each affords fascinating new perspectives on the other. . .
. [A] scholarly achievement and an exciting new
departure."—Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman
". . . how stimulating comparative history can be, especially when
carried out with the meticulous care and breathtaking expertise
that are on display on virtually every page of this handsome book.
. . . This appraisal can barely begin to do justice to the
formidable scholarship and the wealth of suggestions and insights
contained in this magnificent book. Merely to have written a
synthesis of either of the two empires would have been a brave
undertaking and an impressive tour de force. But to have produced
such a detailed and illuminating comparative synthesis of both,
with hardly a dull paragraph despite its dispassionate – perhaps at
times too dispassionate – scholarship, is a mighty triumph. Seldom
can comparative history have been done so thoroughly, and presented
with such flair, authority and aplomb."—Fernando Cervantes, Times
Literary Supplement
"Elliott’s book is an important new synthesis . . . [and] not just
a scholarly tome. It is also an outstanding example of historical
writing that manages to combine serious, rigorous historical
scholarship with an approachable style and grand narrative that
commends it to the general reader. . . . Elliott writes well and
captures the sweep of history . . . [with] a practical, pragmatic
bent. . . . It is a very fine book."—Michael Savage, Culture
Wars
"As with all Elliott's books, the architecture and the scope are
breathtaking. Empires of the Atlantic World covers almost every
imaginable aspect of the imperial experience, from politics and
economics to art and law, religion and literature, science and
technology: all encompassed within a single narrative which takes
us from discovery in 1492 to the eve of final independence of the
Spanish-American colonies in 1830."—Anthony Pagden, London Review
of Books
"[It] is a quite masterly work of comparative history by a great
historian which combines in a single thesis two complex societies
and sheds fresh light on each."—Michael Howard, Times Literary
Supplement
"Elliott writes wonderfully readable history and in Empires he
offers a rattling good tale describing European expansion to the
New World that will captivate readers for years to come."—Simon
Middleton, BBC History Magazine
"Elliott’s clearly-written book serves as an excellent general
history of the Americas for the period 1492 to 1850. It is one of
the few studies to compare the two spheres of the British and
Spanish Americas."—British Bulletin of Publications
Selected as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2007 by Choice
Magazine
Selected as a 2007 "Outstanding" book by AAUP University Press
Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries
Shortlisted for the 2006 Hessel-Tiltman History Prize, awarded by
the English PEN Club
Winner of the 2007 Francis Parkman Prize awarded by the Society of
American Historians for the best book in American history
"Others have offered comparisons between the English- and
Spanish-speaking worlds, but none have been as fully nuanced or
fully realized as this. A masterpiece by one of the
English-speaking world’s most accomplished historians."—David
Weber, author of Bárbaros: Spaniards and Their Savages in the Age
of Enlightenment
"Elliott’s close study of the empire the English founded in North
America and the one that the Spanish built to the south has given
him remarkable insights and perspectives. The result is to give new
dimensions to the usable past of both Americas."—Edmund S. Morgan,
author of Benjamin Franklin
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