The contributions in this volume engage with the initial reception of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s 2000 book Empire, which was feted as a ‘Communist Manifesto’ for the twenty-first century, but also widely critiqued. Contributors such as Giovanni Arrighi, Timothy Brennan, and Sanjay Seth respond to the book with questions and criticism for Hardt & Negri, whose (partial) response is also included in the volume.