Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein during the times of the French Revolution and it affected her way of writing because she connected the story a lot to that era.



"Imperialism has been the most powerful force in world history over the last four or five centuries, carving up whole continents while oppressing people and their entire civilizations. When not ignored outright, the subject of imperialism has been sanitized, so that empires become commonwealths, and colonies become territories or dominions (or, as in the case of Puerto Rico, commonwealths too). Imperialist military interventions become matters of national defense, national security, and maintaining stability in one or another region. In this book I want to look at imperialism for what it really is".


http://www.michaelparenti.org/Imperialism101.html


"Imperialism occurs when a strong nation takes over a weaker nation or region and dominates its economic, political, or cultural life.
This type of foreign policy was practiced by European nations and Japan throughout the 1800s and early 1900s. In every case, a nation would experience industrialaztion prior to practicing imperialism on a foreign nation or region. This was due to the nearly insatiable demand for cheap raw materials and the need for markets to buy manufactured goods".


http://regentsprep.org/regents/global/themes/imperialism/index.cfm