Awards

• Winner of Jerry Bentley Prize in World History 2019

Overview

Winner of theJerry Bentley Prize in World History (American Historical Association). Award-winning historian Priya Satia presents a new history of the Industrial Revolution that positions war and the gun trade squarely at the heart of the rapid growth of technology and Britain's imperial expansion. Satia's thorough examination advances a radical new understanding of the historical roots of the violent partnership between the government, military and the economy. Sweeping in its scope and entirely original in its approach, Empire of Guns illuminates Britain's emergence as a global superpower in a clear and novel light.

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9780715653050

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Reviews

'An important revisionist account of the industrial revolution... a revelatory book.' -- Sven Beckert, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Empire of Cotton 'A richly researched and probing historical narrative that challenges our understanding of the engines that drove Britain's industrial revolution. With this book, Priya Satia... affirms her place as a deeply captivating and thought-provoking historian.' -- Caroline Elkins, Pulitzer Prize winner for Imperial Reckoning Satia marshals an overwhelming amount of evidence to show, comprehensively, that guns had a place at the center of every conventional tale historians have so far told about the origins of the modern, industrialized world. . . . Spanning four continents and three centuries, tackling the fundamental nature of industrialization and capitalism, Empire of Guns belongs to the last decade's resurgence in so-called 'big history'. . . . Though not presented as a political book, the implications of Satia's work are difficult to ignore. . . . This book leaves us with the disquieting notion that guns--whether the slow and inaccurate weapons of the eighteenth century or today's models--do more than alternately cloak or explore human inclination towards violence. They also shape it--not just at the individual level, as we are accustomed to debating, but at the societal, even civilizational or global, level as well. 'As we make objects, they make us. * The New Republic * Satia's detailed retelling of the Industrial Revolution and Britain's relentless empire expansion notably contradicts simple free market narratives. . . . She argues convincingly that the expansion of the armaments industry and the government's role in it is inseparable from the rise of innumerable associated industries from finance to mining. . . . Fascinating. * The New York Times * 'A fascinating and important glimpse into how violence fueled the industrial revolution, Priya Satia's book stuns with deep scholarship and sparkling prose.' -- Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies 'A fascinating study of the centrality of militarism in 18th-century British life, and how imperial expansion and arms went hand in hand...This book is a triumph.' * The Guardian *

Author Information

Priya Satia is a professor of British History at Stanford University. She is the author of Spies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain's Covert Empire in the Middle East published by OUP and her writing has appeared in the TLS, Slate, the Financial Times and Huffington Post, among other publications. She received a MSc in Development Studies (Economics) at the London School of Economics and a PhD in History at the University of California, Berkeley.

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