xiv, 511 pages : 27 cm

This book "departs from conventional European and nation-centered perspectives to take a remarkable look at how empires relied on diversity to shape the global order. Beginning with ancient Rome and China and continuing across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa," the authors "examine empires' conquests, rivalries, and strategies of domination, emphasizing how empires accommodated, created, and manipulated differences among populations."--Jacket

Includes bibliographical references (pages 461-479) and index

Imperial trajectories -- Imperial rule in Rome and China -- After Rome : empire, Christianity, and Islam -- Eurasian connections : the Mongol empires -- Beyond the Mediterranean : Ottoman and Spanish empires -- Oceanic economies and colonial societies : Europe, Asia, and the Americas -- Beyond the steppe : empire-building in Russia and China -- Empire, nation, and citizenship in a revolutionary age -- Empires across continents : the United States and Russia -- Imperial repertoires and myths of modern colonialism -- Sovereignty and empire : nineteenth-century Europe and its near abroad -- War and revolution in a world of empires, 1914 to 1945 -- End of empire? -- Empires, states, and political imagination