Edge of Empire

In this imaginative book, Maya Jasanoff uncovers the extraordinary stories of collectors who lived on the frontiers of the British Empire in India and Egypt, tracing their exploits to tell an intimate history of imperialism. Jasanoff delves beneath the grand narratives of power, exploitation, and resistance to look at the British Empire through the eyes of the people caught up in it. Written and researched on four continents,Edge of Empireenters a world where people lived, loved, mingled, and identified with one another in ways richer and more complex than previous accounts have led us to believe were possible. And as this book demonstrates, traces of that world remain tangibleand topicaltoday. An innovative, persuasive, and provocative work of history.

Maya Jasanoff was educated at Harvard, Cambridge, and Yale and is currently assistant professor of British history at the University of Virginia. This is her first book.


From the Hardcover edition.