The abolition of the slave trade is normally understood to be the singular achievement of eighteenth-century British liberalism. Abolitionism and Imperialism in Britain; Africa; and the Atlantic expands both the temporal and the geographic framework in which the history of abolitionism is conceived. Abolitionism was a theater in which a variety of actors—slaves; African rulers; Caribbean planters; working-class radicals; British evangelicals; African political entrepreneurs—played a part. The Atlantic was an echo chamber; in which abolitionist symbols; ideas; and evidence were generated from a variety of vantage points. These essays highlight the range of political and moral projects in which the advocates of abolitionism were engaged; and in so doing it joins together geographies that are normally studied in isolation. Where empires are often understood to involve the government of one people over another; Abolitionism and Imperialism shows that British values were formed; debated; and remade in the space of empire. Africans were not simply objects of British liberals’ benevolence. They played an active role in shaping; and extending; the values that Britain now regards as part of its national character. This book is therefore a contribution to the larger scholarship about the nature of modern empires.
#2585895 in Books 2014-10-15 2014-10-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.10 x 1.00 x 6.00l; .0 #File Name: 0820346829208 pages
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. synagogues and streetsBy Michael LewynIn 1880; Warsaw had more Jews than any American city. By 1905; New York City had over 700;000 Jews; more than twice as many as Warsaw and ten times as many as it had in 1880. This book tries to answer the question: how has urbanization affected American Judaism?The first major segment of Moore's book focuses on synagogues; she suggests that the size of urban communities allowed a wide range of congregations; and that the newness of these communities allowed for innovations. For example; in the 1920s; the "synagogue center" movement competed with urban commercial recreation by incorporating sports and entertainment into synagogue buildings.The second major segment focuses on streets; in large cities; Jews gathered together for large funerals of major religious and secular leaders; taking over city streets. More recently; Hasidim have turned the streets of Brooklyn's Boro Park; Williamsburg and Crown Heights into modern versions of a East European small town.This interesting book would have benefitted from a bit more of a comparative perspective: that is; a comparison of Jewish city life to small-town life; to help the reader understand what innovations were distinctively urban and which were distinctively American instead.
