Ross's Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire is a genuine tour de force that will surely be a landmark book in both environmental history and imperial history. It takes a synthetic, multi-empire approach in the period since the 1860s, surveying the ecological contexts and consequences of colonial economies as well as growing imperial interest in resource conservation. Ross focuses on the tropical regions of Asia and Africa, taking the reader from the tin mines of Malaya to the cocoa plantations of West Africa with many stops in between. Ross's prose is agreeable and his arguments clear. His research in the specialist literature and published primary sources in English, French, Dutch, and German is thorough. Altogether a superb achievement and a great service to historians and other lovers of history. J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University Skryť popis