New this week is John Belchem’s review of a collection of papers from a conference on the relationship between the city of Liverpool and the British Empire, along with a response from the editors.

In addition, Clare Anderson reviews Cross Currents and Community Networks: The History of the Indian Ocean World, another collection of essays which deals with the cultural landscape of this world, and the communities that crossed it.

Finally John Wills tackles the latest in the Blackwell Companions to American History series – read his review here of the volume on cultural history.

The easter break means there’ll be no reviews published next week, but do feel free as usual to send all comments, including suggestions for books you would like to see on Reviews in History to the deputy editor, Danny Millum.