There is a wide range of literature theorizing imperialism, and the best place to start is an overview that is judicious, encompassing, and careful. Brewer’s book is that. It covers not only the classical theories of Vladimir Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg but also the postwar theories, like the unequal exchange arguments of Giovanni Arrighi, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Samir Amin and dependency theory. Brewer is good on all of these, laying out what each theory claims and subjecting it to serious critical scrutiny. Any socialist who reads this book will come away literate in the broad landscape of Marxist theorizing on empire.

The most astute and penetrating critic of the postwar economic theories of imperialism, Weeks was one of the leading Marxist economists of his generation and spent years studying the empirical realities of the Global South, particularly in Africa and Latin America. He was therefore deeply committed to building a theory that captured those dynamics. His selected writings present the best sympathetic critique of Wallerstein and the dependency school available anywhere.

Hyam’s book is the finest single-volume account of British imperial expansion, covering the full sweep from 1815 to 1914. It went through three editions; the third, from Palgrave Macmillan in 2002, strikes the best balance between covering the high years of empire and engaging with the analytical debates that surround them. Hyam is equally good at narrating the story of expansion and pausing to examine the forces and contradictions that drove it. For any reader who wants to understand what British imperialism was, how it worked, and why it took the forms it did, this is indispensable.