"De-Scribing Empire" is a stunning collection of first-rate essays that examine the textual fabric of colonialism and its legacy. Together they interpret the formative role of books, writing and textuality in imperial control and their role in fashioning colonial world-views. Foregrounding strategies of understanding and resistance, "De-Scribing Empire" places itself within a critical tradition of post-colonial studies.
As a spirited collection of some of the newest critical thinking, "De-Scribing Empire" analyses the multifarious ways in which imperialism operated textually. The authors examine such issues as the power of cartography to elide and dislocate identities; the imperial role of 19th century children's literature; the place of the feminine in colonial power hierarchies; the racialist unease shrouding early twentieth century adventure fiction; the questions and implications of "authenticity"; and the contradictions and tribulations of teaching resistance literature in western educational institutions.

De-Scribing Empire is a stunning collection of first-class essays. Collectively they examine the formative role of books, writing and textuality in imperial control and the fashioning of colonial world-views. The volume as a whole puts forward strategies for understanding and neutralising that control, and as such is a major contribution to the field. It will be invaluable for students in post-colonialist criticism.

Did the New Deal represent the true American way or was it an aberration that would last only until the old order could reassert itself? This original and thoughtful study tells the story of the New Deal, explains its origins, and assesses its legacy. Alan Lawson explores how the circumstances of the Great Depression and the distinctive leadership of Franklin D. Roosevelt combined to bring about unprecedented economic and policy reform. Challenging conventional wisdom, he argues that the New Deal was not an improvised response to an unexpected crisis, but the realization of a unique opportunity to put into practice Roosevelt's long-developed progressive thought.

Lawson focuses on where the impetus and plans for the New Deal originated, how Roosevelt and those closest to him sought to fashion a cooperative commonwealth, and what happened when the impulse for collective unity was thwarted. He describes the impact of the Great Depression on the prevailing system and traces the fortunes of several major social sectors as the drive to create a cohesive plan for reconstruction unfolded. He continues the story of these main sectors through the last half of the 1930s and traces their legacy down to the present as crucial challenges to the New Deal have arisen.

Drawing from a wide variety of scholarly texts, records of the Roosevelt administration, Depression-era newspapers and periodicals, and biographies and reflections of the New Dealers, Lawson offers a comprehensive conceptual base for a crucial aspect of American history.