The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism

摘要

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism is a very big book. The paper version, as here reviewed, has been printed and bound to make it as compact as humanly possible - saying that no space is wasted hardly does it justice. In its small print and double columns, the publishers have crammed over a million words. The effect is rather forbidding. Most of the entries are really short essays around seven pages long. Some of them, like the entry on Apartheid, are triple that length. The "feel" of the work is highly academic. The authors have not bothered with fripperies like illustrations: instead, we get dozens of these heavy-duty essays. Very occasionally, one finds a table or map or graph but, in the main, just an overwhelming mass of dense prose. It must be said that the writing is never jargon-ridden and the authors get high marks for their clear and simple English. Each piece concludes with reference notes and further reading.