Talented historian Maya Jasonoff offers an alternative history of the British Empire. It is not about conquest -- but rather a collection of startling and fascinating personal accounts of cross-cultural exchange from those who found themselves on the edges of Empire. A Palladian mansion filled with Western art in the centre of old Calcutta, the Mughal Emperor's letters in an archive in the French Alps, the names of Italian adventurers scratched into the walls of Egyptian temples: in this imaginative book, Maya Jasanoff delves into the stories behind artefacts like these to uncover the lives of collectors in India and Egypt who lived on the frontiers of European empire. 'Edge of Empire' traces their exploits to tell an intimate history of imperialism. Written and researched on four continents, 'Edge of Empire' tells a story about the making of European empires, ones that break away from the grand narratives of power, exploitation, and resistance, to delve into the personal dimensions of imperialism. She asks what people brought to imperial frontiers and what they took away, and what motives drove them, whether ambition, opportunism, curiosity or greed. This rich and compelling book enters a world where people lived, loved and died, and identified with each other across cultures much more than our prejudices about 'Empire' might suggest.

【作者簡介】

馬婭•亞桑諾夫是哈佛大學柯立芝曆史學教授。她的第一部作品《帝國邊緣》（2005），獲得瞭2005年的達夫•庫珀奬，被《經濟學人》《衛報》《星期日泰晤士報》等多傢媒體評為年度好書。第二部作品《被自由流放的人》（2011），獲得瞭國傢圖書評論非虛構小說奬和喬治•華盛頓圖書奬，入圍塞繆爾•約翰遜奬（現在被稱為巴美列捷福奬）。第三部作品《守候黎明》獲得2018年坎迪爾曆史奬，入圍2017年達夫•庫珀奬。作為2013年古根海姆研究員，亞桑諾夫獲得瞭2017年溫德姆-坎貝爾非虛構圖書奬。她經常在《紐約時報》、《衛報》和《紐約書評》等齣版物上發錶論文和評論。