Patterns of Empire comprehensively examines the two most powerful empires in modern history: the United States and Britain. Challenging the popular theory that the American empire is unique, Patterns of Empire shows how the policies, practices, forms and historical dynamics of the American empire repeat those of the British, leading up to the present climate of economic decline, treacherous intervention in the Middle East and overextended imperial confidence. A critical exercise in revisionist history and comparative social science, this book also offers a challenging theory of empire that recognizes the agency of non-Western peoples, the impact of global fields and the limits of imperial power.

Julian Go is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University. He is also a Faculty Affiliate in Asian Studies and New England and American Studies at Boston University. He is editor of the journal Political Power and Social Theory. He is a former Academy Scholar at Harvard University's Academy for International and Area Studies. His first book, American Empire and the Politics of Meaning, won the Mary Douglas Prize for Best Book from the American Sociological Association and was a finalist for a Philippines National Book Award. His other books include The American Colonial State in the Philippines: Global Perspectives, which he co-edited and More American Than We Admit: The Influence of American Culture on the Philippines, which he edited.