“A widely and deeply researched, elegantly written, and vital portrayal of [Queen Victoria’s] place in colonial Indian affairs.”(Journal of Modern History) In this engaging and controversial book, Miles Taylor shows how both Victoria and Albert were spellbound by India, and argues that the Queen was humanely, intelligently, and passionately involved with the country throughout her reign and not just in the last decades. Taylor also reveals the way in which Victoria’s influence as empress contributed significantly to India’s modernization, both political and economic. This is, in a number of respects, a fresh account of imperial rule in India, suggesting that it was one of Victoria’s successes. “Readers encounter a detail-attentive and independently minded monarch . . . .Information, offered with verve and occasional humor, fills chapters of Empress with little-known details of Victoria’s active rule as Empress.” —Adrienne Munich, Victorian Studies “This is a nuanced portrait of an empire rich in contradiction.” —Catherine Hall, author of Civilising Subjects “Beautifully written and subtly crafted, this book provides a critical history of the cultural, political, and diplomatic significance of Queen Victoria's role as Empress of India.” —Tristram Hunt, Director of Victoria and Albert Museum “This is a highly intelligent, wonderfully lucid and well researched book that rests on an impressive array of Indian as well as European sources. It makes a powerful case for re-assessing Queen Victoria's own role and political and religious ideas in regard to the subcontinent.” —Linda Colley, author of Britons

The self-made, hard-hearted, green-eyed empress of Rome has everything she could ever want or need - that is, until she meets Catalina, a feisty Spanish slave who is seemingly without fear of the notoriously vicious ruler. Empress Servia Fabia Maxima finds herself drawn to Catalina, who slowly begins to chisel away at the ice around the empress's heart and makes her wonder whether there is more to the world than merely ruling it. But with a brutal military campaign to overtake the Far East, societal demands for the ruler to produce an heir and a suspected plot to overthrow her reign, Servia fears she could never become the empress Catalina believes she can be. And amid her abundance of struggles, the Roman empress soon comes to find she may be forced to lose not only her kingdom, but also the young Spaniard who stole her heart.

When the more than eighteen million visitors poured into the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, they encountered a vision of the world born out of San Francisco’s particular local political and social climate. By seeking to please various constituent groups ranging from the government of Japan to local labor unions and neighborhood associations, fair organizers generated heated debate and conflict about who and what represented San Francisco, California, and the United States at the world’s fair. The Panama-Pacific International Exposition encapsulated the social and political tensions and conflicts of pre–World War I California and presaged the emergence of San Francisco as a cosmopolitan cultural and economic center of the Pacific Rim. Empress San Francisco offers a fresh examination of this, one of the largest and most influential world’s fairs, by considering the local social and political climate of Progressive Era San Francisco. Focusing on the influence exerted by women, Asians and Asian Americans, and working-class labor unions, among others, Abigail M. Markwyn offers a unique analysis both of this world’s fair and the social construction of pre–World War I America and the West.

First Published in 1986. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Published in the year 1986, With The Empress Dowager Of Chin is a valuable contribution to the field of Asian Studies.