The Discovery of Islands consists of a series of linked essays in British history, written by one of the world's leading historians of political thought and published over the past three decades. Its purpose is to present British history as that of several nations interacting with - and sometimes seceding from - an imperial state. The commentary presents this history as that of an archipelago, expanding across oceans to the Antipodes. Both New Zealand history and the author's New Zealand heritage inform this vision, presenting British history as oceanic and global, complementing (and occasionally criticising) the presentation of that history as European. Professor Pocock's interpretation of British history has been hugely influential in recent years, making The Discovery of Islands a resource of immense value for historians of Britain and the world.
Preface and acknowledgements; Part I. The Field Proposed: 1. The Antipodean perception; 2. British history: a plea for a new subject; Part II. The Three Kingdoms and the English Problem: 3. The field enlarged: an introduction; 4. Two kingdoms and three histories? Political thought in British contexts; 5. The Atlantic archipelago and the War of the Three Kingdoms; 6. The third kingdom in its history; Part III. Empire and Rebellion in the First Age of Union: 7. Archipelago, Europe and Atlantic after 1688; 8. The significance of 1688: some reflections on Whig history; 9. Empire, state and confederation: the war of American independence as a crisis in multiple monarchy; 10. The Union of 1801 in British history; Part IV. New Zealand in the Strange Multiplicity: 11. The neo-Britains and the three empires; 12. Tangata whenua and Enlightenment anthropology; 13. Law, sovereignty and history in a divided culture: the case of New Zealand and the Treaty of Waitangi; Part V. Britain, Europe and Post-Modern History: 14. Sovereignty and history in the late twentieth century; 15. Deconstructing Europe; 16. The politics of the new British history; 17. Conclusion: history, sovereignty, identity; Bibliographies; Index.
