Scotland and the British Empire

The purpose of the five volumes of the Oxford History of the British Empire was to provide a comprehensive survey of the Empire from its beginning to end, to explore the meaning of British imperialism for the ruled as well as the rulers, and to study the significance of the British Empire as a theme in world history. The volumes in the Companion Series carry forward this purpose. They pursue themes that could not be covered adequately in the main series while incorporating recent research and providing fresh interpretations of significant topics. Book jacket.

John M. MacKenzie has been working on social and cultural aspects of the British Empire for some forty years. He has published on aspects of imperial propaganda, popular culture, the environment, art, and the dispersal of cultural institutions such as museums. He has also been interested in the role of Scots in the British Empire since delivering an inaugural lecture on the subject twenty years ago. He has lived in Canada, southern Africa, England, and Scotland, and has travelled extensively in many of the territories of the former Empire, conducting research and attending conferences. He has appeared on television and radio programmes associated with the British Empire.

T. M. Devine previously held the Glucksman Research Chair in Irish-Scottish Studies, was Director of the AHRC Centre in Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen, and was Deputy Principal of the University of Strathclyde. He holds Honorary Professorships at the Universities of North Carolina and Guelph, and has won all three major prizes for Scottish historical research. He is Fellow of the British Academy and Royal Society of Edinburgh, and an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He was appointed OBE for services to Scottish History (2005) and awarded Scotland's supreme academic accolade, the Royal Gold Medal, by HM the Queen on the recommendation of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2001.