{"product_id":"world-of-empires-edyta-m-bojanowska-9780674976405","title":"A World of Empires: The Russian Voyage of the Frigate Pallada","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e Best History Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMany people are familiar with American Commodore Matthew Perry's expedition to open trade relations with Japan in the early 1850s. Less well known is that on the heels of the Perry squadron followed a Russian expedition secretly on the same mission. Serving as secretary to the naval commander was novelist Ivan Goncharov, who turned his impressions into a book, \u003ci\u003eThe Frigate Pallada\u003c\/i\u003e, which became a bestseller in imperial Russia. In \u003ci\u003eA World of Empires, \u003c\/i\u003e Edyta Bojanowska uses Goncharov's fascinating travelogue as a window onto global imperial history in the mid-nineteenth century. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eReflecting on encounters in southern Africa's Cape Colony, Dutch Java, Spanish Manila, Japan, and the British ports of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, Goncharov offers keen observations on imperial expansion, cooperation, and competition. Britain's global ascendancy leaves him in equal measures awed and resentful. In Southeast Asia, he recognizes an increasingly interlocking world in the vibrant trading hubs whose networks encircle the globe. Traveling overland back home, Goncharov presents Russia's colonizing rule in Siberia as a positive imperial model, contrasted with Western ones. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSlow to be integrated into the standard narrative on European imperialism, Russia emerges here as an increasingly assertive empire, eager to position itself on the world stage among its American and European rivals and fully conversant with the ideologies of civilizing mission and race. Goncharov's gripping narrative offers a unique eyewitness account of empire in action, in which Bojanowska finds both a zeal to emulate European powers and a determination to define Russia against them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Edyta M. Bojanowska\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674976401\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674976405\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Belknap Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/16\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.40w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2018","brand":"Edyta M. Bojanowska","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44566882386175,"sku":"9780674976405","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e3becb51-dfec-4f57-a5ec-5fc29e5129ae.jpg?v=1701374892","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/world-of-empires-edyta-m-bojanowska-9780674976405","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}