Abstract

This is an excerpt from the contentIn his latest book, David A. J. Richards extends his analysis of patriarchy and resistance, two of his most cherished themes, to the sphere of historical analysis. The Edwin D. Webb Professor of Law at New York University School of Law here attempts to explore the relationship between these two ideas and the Western history of imperialism. He tries to show that one cannot fully understand the fall of legitimacy of the imperial ideal in the twentieth century without taking into account the opposition against patriarchy that emerged out of a specific movement of resistance, the Bloosmbury Group.Richards devotes the first chapter of his book to demonstrate the thesis that the main feature of imperialism is its patriarchal nature. He does so by exposing the centrality of patriarchy in the Roman and British imperial models. While in the former the patriarchal culture structured both private and public life so as to render men profoundly violent and therefore unable to sustain its hegemonic