The Rise and Fall of the British Empire - Hardcover

James, Lawrence

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312140398 ISBN 13: 9780312140397

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1995

Synopsis

A thoroughly researched, comprehensive history of the British Empire spans the years from 1600 to the present day, tracing the course of Britain's rise to a maritime superpower, its colonial heritage, and its gradual demise in this century.

About this title

About the Author:

Lawrence James was a founder member of York University and then took a research degree at Merton College, Oxford. After a distinguished teaching career he has emerged as one of the outstanding narrative historians of his generation.

From Publishers Weekly:

James, a British historian whose previous books have dealt chiefly with military matters, writes engagingly about the British Empire from the time of Sir Walter Raleigh at the beginning of the 17th century to Nelson Mandela at the end of the 20th. The struggle that drove France out of Canada, he says, was "Britain's first large-scale imperial war of conquest," and it set the pattern for future colonial wars from the American Revolution through the Napoleonic, Crimean, Boer, Afghan and Opium wars to WWI and the beginning of the end of the empire in India, Ireland, the Middle East and Africa. WWII finished the job. Except for the travels of Captain James Cook, tales of exploration play almost no part in this account. It is, instead, a history of how a fairly simple international mercantile enterprise?in which white dominions were definitely regarded differently from black ones?changed itself and the face of the world. James peppers his account with illuminating and entertaining excerpts from period songs and popular literature. His conclusion: few empires have given their subjects so much of the intellectual wherewithal to overthrow their rulers. A sprawling and complex subject handled with admirable style and selectivity. Illustrations.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0312140398
• ISBN 13: 9780312140397
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 704