JONATHAN HART is the Director of the Institute for Renaissance Studies at the University of Edmonton, where he holds appointments in both English and History. Last year he was visiting professor at Princeton University. He holds a joint Ph.D in Literature and History, and has published widely on Shakespeare, Renaissance Literature, and the development if European empires.

• Introduction Columbus and the Natives Opposition from Within After Spain Promoting Empire Sexing America Between Cultures Shakespeare's Island Cultural Appropriation, Colonialism and Postcolonialism Afterword

'Hart breaks new ground in exploring the ways in which the initial success of the Spanish in the new World set the agenda for the successive French and British attempts to create empires for themselves in the Atlantic. This is the largely untold story of the intellectual and ideological 'Scramble for America'. It is told with elegance, subtlety, and remarkable erudition by an author who brings to his readings of a complex body of texts the techniques of both the literary critic and the cultural historian. It will change the way we think about the first European overseas empires.' - Anthony Pagden, Harry C. Black, The Johns Hopkins University