sections:
This work covers the history of British expansion overseas from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Narrative and analysis are interwoven with revealing eyewitness quotations to provide keen insight into the minds of those involved in conquering, settling and ruling the British Empire. Throughout, there are consistent themes: the search for profit and the moral misgivings it generated; domestic developments which made imperial expansion desirable; and the sense of national and personal destiny felt by the empire-builders.
book reviews
- AN Wilson
"The range, sweep, and sheer verve of the book are prodigious. James can't write a dull sentence. This is a book which every student, every family should be made to read...Whether he is describing the Indian mutiny or the Suez crisis, the expansion of Africa or the little local difficulty in the American colonies, James has a genius for detail. there is a wonderful blend of the familiar and the new. This book is a masterpiece."
- Andrew Roberts, The Times
"It is, however, with this superb history of a mammoth subject that his writing career has reached its apogee...This well-balanced and thoughtful work is a testament to what imperialism can achieve."
- Times Literary Supplement
"James's epic is not only a first-rate narrative, but also a penetrating portrait of the British, neither unattractive nor flattering..."
- The Daily Telegraph
"Lawrence James never loses sight of his grand design, yet he still finds room for the telling detail which illuminates and enriches a narrative."
- The Sunday Telegraph
"I recommend this book to sixthformers, undergraduates, and, indeed, the general reader."
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