Unfinished Empire

Product Description

John Darwin won the Wolfson History Prize for his book After Tamerlane: The Rise & Fall of Global Empires". In " Unfinished Empire" he examines the enormous influence of the British Empire. It has shaped the world in countless ways: repopulating continents carving out modern nations imposing its own language technology & values. For perhaps two centuries its existence expansion & final collapse were the single largest determinant of historical events. Now that it has gone it seems to us baffling that such a strange entity should ever have existed. What was the dynamic that led to English-speakers standing on the shores of the Pacific controlling the worlds sea transport & creating a financial system that revolutionized the worlds economies? John Darwins provocative & richly enjoyable new book is an attempt to make us see anew how diverse strange & in many ways chaotic the British Empire really was controlled by a range of interests often at loggerheads with each other & as much driven on by others weaknesses as by its own strength. By understanding the different phases of imperial conquest the wildly different types of colonist (with soldiers & farmers merchants & government officials often barely on speaking terms) & what made the Empire ultimately collapse in ruins " Unfinished Empire" is a surprising original & often critical account of an extraordinary phenomenon. Reviews: "A breadth of perspective few other imperial historians can boast. The British Empire really does look different in the light of it... Breadth of vision fizzing ideas & a brilliant style as well as superb scholarship... It deserves to supplant every other book on this topic including
- though my publisher & bank manager wont thank me for saying this
- my own. It is British imperial history at last without hang-ups; the one weve been waiting for". (Bernard Porter " History Today"). "A brilliantly perceptive analysis of the forces & ideas that drove the creation of an extraordinary enterprise... Bringing together his huge erudition scrupulous fairness & elegant prose Mr Darwin has produced a wonderfully stimulating account of something that today seems almost incredibly yet was in historical terms only yesterday. It is also a much-needed antidote both to the leftish consensus of the past 50 years that Britains empire was unrelievedly awful...and the recent triumphalist revisionism of more conservative historians". (" Economist"). " Engrossing... What Darwin adds to this subject is a rare wonderful capacity for comparison... Seeing the imperial experience in the round like this does gives us a clearer more subtle appreciation of the range of power & violence at play. It raises the historical writing on empire to another level". ("BBC History Magazine"). " Balanced original & impressive... Subtle...intelligent". (" Literary Review"). " Comprehensive... Darwins erudition allows him to skirt around the narrow orthodoxies of apologist v critic & provide an insightful account of Britains unlikely period of global hegemony". (" Sunday Times"). " How incredibly refreshing it is when as distinguished an historian as John Darwin...writes something as thoughtful well-researched & persuasive as " Unfinished Empire" which explains the half-millennium-long expansion of Britain across the globe in terms that genuinely make sense... The authors deep familiarity with all the key sources of this vast subject allows him to pluck examples for his arguments from across the centuries & continents... Best of all...is the thought that Darwins book might at long last herald the victory of the post-Marxist phase of imperial historiography & not a moment too soon". (Andrew Roberts " Sunday Telegraph"). Book of the Week About the author: John Darwins interest lies in the history of empires both their rise & fall. He has written extensively on the decline of Britains empire & teaches imperial & global history at "