At a time when contemporary society is revelling in the novelty of electronic social networks, which have the power to drive anything from pop culture to the Arab Spring, a study such as Gary Magee and Andrew Thompson's Empire and globalisation serves to provide both substance and historical context to the much-hyped preoccupation with networks and the spread of information that they facilitate. As the authors remark, ‘networking is seen as a phenomenon that was and is widely practised in the contemporary and pre-modern eras, but somehow not in the modern period. By contrast, our position is to emphasise continuity. For us, the forging of networks represents a type of social and economic behaviour that is timeless …’ (p. 59).

Their book focuses on the movement and integration of people, goods, and capital in the Anglophone world in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, in particular the British Dominions, the United States, and, to a lesser extent, Argentina. It takes as its premise that these movements formed an essential component of the first wave of modern globalization and seeks to historicize the phenomenon, as well as to test its theoretical assumptions against the historical record – an endeavour that it achieves admirably by highlighting both the multidimensionality and the unevenness of these processes.

The book is well written and lucidly structured. Its introduction provides an expansive historiographical discussion on empire, followed by a second chapter that examines theoretical frameworks for the study of networks in the British World. It then proceeds to investigate the nature and role of these networks in three subsequent chapters that deal with migration, trade and consumption, and capital investment respectively. In so doing, it provides a compelling reflection of the migrant experience, which takes account of ethnic, regional, and religious identities as the harbingers of an array of immigrant networks and support structures. Its explanations of the peculiar and imperfect flows of information in shaping decision-making; identity as a driver of both consumer culture and investment patterns; and the role of networks in nineteenth-century City finance are particularly impressive. Its portrayal of imperial economics is subtle and nuanced, in contrast to earlier Marxist depictions of the empire as a blunt tool, and it overturns arguments that the Dominions served as useful dumping grounds for British manufacturers by analysing the dynamics of colonial markets. By interweaving people, goods, and capital across the English-speaking world, the book provides a refreshing alternative to the old centre–periphery debates about the relationship between the colonies and the metropole (pp. 23, 118, 167). The authors succeed in moving away from class analysis by giving a fresh account of the intersection between culture and economic behaviour (pp. 43–4).

Empire and globalisation is also an impressive work of synthesis, drawing on scholarship from across the English-speaking world, as well as the authors’ own published research. In blending such a broad scholarship, it not only serves as a useful basis and reference work for recent converts to the field of global history but also, inadvertently, highlights lacunae in the various national historiographies. These gaps are, inevitably, reflected in the text and the reader cannot help but feel uncomfortable at times when Australian and Canadian case studies are relied on to carry the narrative, thereby making them representative of the imperial experience as a whole.

The book eschews the study of formal empire (although at no stage does it discount it) in favour of demonstrating the grassroots nature of globalization. As the authors rightly argue, ‘there was no grand design here: almost by stealth, the workings of a multitude of trans-national networks by-passed national boundaries and unwittingly took large and historically important steps towards the emergence of a truly global market’ (p. 235). It is certainly vital to move away from notions of ‘outcome as motive’, and to create an alternative to earlier historiographies that focused exclusively on political accounts, but the downplaying of political structures creates a void. While the authors acknowledge that networks are often underpinned by formal institutions (pp. 59–60) and, in the case in this study, the replication of familiar institutions in the colonies fostered the trust of British investors (p. 212), this reviewer cannot help but wonder whether the distinction between ‘grassroots network’ and ‘formal institution’ is not perhaps too insular and whether the integration of politicians and civil servants into these networks would be useful? Could the more formal structures of empire not be recast as yet another collection of networks, as the authors have done so successfully with the City of London and its financial institutions? This would have given the reader insight into the manner and extent to which migrant, trade, and financial networks sought to lobby, shape, and utilize political networks – which they doubtlessly did – and would have added reciprocity to the very interesting account of colonial governments’ attempts to navigate the City networks to obtain finance (pp. 201–4). The allusions to ties between Britain's influential families and the colonial civil service and their behaviour as investors and financial advisers (pp. 184, 206), as well as the ability of governing elites to shape perceptions of the colonies in the press (p. 189), provide rich material for yet another layer to this very nuanced tale.

My reservations aside, Magee and Thompson have produced a deeply researched, interesting, and formative book that makes a substantial contribution to the study of empire, globalization, and networks. It is certain to become standard reading in years to come.