A Global History of Early Modern Violence by Erica Charters

A Global History of Early Modern Violence by Erica Charters

Violence and its containment have been central to definitions of 'Western civilization' and the modern world, with Western legal and political forms often presented as crucial in taming barbarity. This volume questions these assumptions from a global perspective, drawing on examples from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas to challenge the idea that violence was only curbed through the rise of Western-style nation states and civil societies. The book uses global history to re-frame traditional models of the history of violence, re-thinking categories and units of analysis through comparisons. By decentring Europe and exploring alternative patterns of violence, it articulates the significance of violence in narratives of state and empire building, as well as in their failure and decline, while also providing new models for tracing the transition from early modern to modernity. The focus ranges from Dutch merchants, Burmese bandits, Chinese pirates, and Kurdish highwaymen to Mughal warriors, Vietnamese militias, Spanish colonial soldiers, and Japanese magistrates. Discussions cover violence as a factor in relations between individuals, communities, and central governments, as well as in various forms of imperial and colonial rule, and in real or imagined encounters between peoples of different faiths, ethnicities, and states. Taking issue with Western historical periodization, the volume ranges from the early sixteenth century to the 1830s. The first broad analysis of large-scale violence and methods of restraint across the early modern world, it will be of interest to scholars and students of global history, the history of state formation, warfare, civil society and legal systems.

Erica Charters is Associate Professor of Global History and the History of Medicine at the University of Oxford
Marie Houllemare is Professor of Early Modern History at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne (Amiens)
Peter H. Wilson is Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781526140609
ISBN 10	1526140608
Title	A Global History of Early Modern Violence
Author	Erica Charters
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Manchester University Press
Year published	2020-09-01
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.