
Textbooks may interpret history, but the books in the Pages from History series are history. Each title, compiled and edited by a prominent historian, is a collection of primary sources relating to a particular topic of historical significance. Documentary evidence -- including news articles, government documents, memoirs, letters, diaries, fiction, photographs, and facsimiles -- allows history to speak for itself and turns every reader into a historian. Headnotes, extended captions, sidebars, and introductory essays provide the essential context that frames the documents. All the books are amply illustrated and each includes a documentary picture essay, chronology, a further reading list, source notes, and index.A documentary history of imperialism in the modern age (c. 1850-1945), this book focuses on the evolution of the modern form of capitalism developed primarily by the British, French, Russians, and, from the 19th century on, by the Japanese and Germans. By the mid-19th century the great world powers had taken control of most of the globe. Economic growth beyond Europe and Japan escalated rapidly, armies expanded, and bureaucracies swelled, while culture, political theory, and social movements were exchanged among home countries and colonies. Smith follows the impact of imperialism on virtually all aspects of society, as well as the rising tensions that eventually brought about the outbreak of disastrous warfare in the 20th century.
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