Kris Manjapra weaves together the study of colonialism over the past 500 years, across the globe's continents and seas. This captivating work vividly evokes living human histories, introducing the reader to manifestations of colonialism as expressed through war, militarization, extractive economies, migrations and diasporas, racialization, biopolitical management, and unruly and creative responses and resistances by colonized peoples. This book describes some of the most salient political, social, and cultural constellations of our present times across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. By exploring the dissimilar, yet entwined, histories of conquest, settler colonialism, racial slavery, and empire, Manjapra exposes the enduring role of colonial force and freedom struggle in the making of our modern world.

‘If I had to choose one book to explain the development of the modern world, this would be it. Kris Manjapra's devastating treatise goes to the heart of the matter, proving that colonialism – with its racist logics and drive for war and wealth – and the struggles against it, are what makes the world go round. A genuine tour de force.'

Robin D. G. Kelly - University of California, Los Angeles

‘Kris Manjapra's global history of colonialism turns the most complex scholarship on colonial experience into a lucid and enjoyable narrative. He shows how legacies of colonialism in race relations and unequal economic structures still shape the most crucial issues of today, and demonstrates how a renewal of global humanities is needed to face these problems.'

Cemil Aydin - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

‘Manjapra's luminous book is a nuanced yet accessible contribution to the relational and comparative study of modern colonialism. Moving deftly across entangled geographies, unsettling the discrete temporalizations of empire, Colonialism in Global Perspective compels readers to see the world anew.'

Alyosha Goldstein - University of New Mexico

‘Refusing to compartmentalize, Kris Manjapra offers readers the long view of colonialism's interlocking logics of power, a tour through time and space that is simultaneously sweepingly global and specifically grounded in the particular.'

Bethany Moreton - Dartmouth College

‘Uncommonly comprehensive and intellectually stimulating … Highly recommended.’

B. Tavakolian Source: Choice

‘Colonialism in a Global Perspective is a lucid and enjoyable read that covers a large geographic area over a lengthy period.’

Amal Shahid Source: H-Socialisms

‘… the book will leave us with one overarching question in face of socio-economic oppression and post-colonial captivity: should not human rights make us free to be free?’

Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan Source: Nordic Journal of Human Rights

'Manjapra’s approach is an inspired one … The multi-perspective parallactic view Manjapra has employed in Colonialism in Global Perspective has suited the topic well and produced an accessible study of features of a shared colonial experience.'

Joseph M. Snyder Source: The Middle Ground Journal

‘Interdisciplinary scholars and students interested in the history, political economy, and sociocultural dimensions of colonialism will find this book of value.'

Marc Kosciejew Source: Ethnic and Racial Studies