<!–Notes ACF
–> Dear historians,
It gives me great pleasure to announce the publication of our colleague Sakis Gekas’ latest book, Xenocracy: State, Class, and Colonialism in the Ionian Islands, 1815-1864 (New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2016, 380 pp.)
This is how the press describes the volume:
Of the many European territorial reconfigurations that followed the wars of the early nineteenth century, the Ionian State remains among the least understood. Xenocracy offers a much-needed account of the region during its half-century as a Protectorate of Great Britain—a period that embodied all of the contradictions of British colonialism. A middle class of merchants, lawyers and state officials embraced and promoted a liberal modernization project. Yet despite the improve-ments experienced by many Ionians, the deterioration of state finances led to divisions along class lines and presented a significant threat to social stability. As author Sakis Gekas shows, the ordeal engendered dependency upon and ambivalence toward Western Europe, anticipating the “neocolonial” condition with which the Greek nation struggles even today.
This promises to be a very important volume, Sakis; many congratulations on its publication.
All best wishes, Jonathan