Empire

by Niall Ferguson

2003 · 404 pages

british colonies
colonies
imperialism
overzeese expansie
history
modern civilization

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About this book

Niall Ferguson's acclaimed bestseller on the highs and lows of Britain's empire

'A remarkably readable précis of the whole British imperial story - triumphs, deceits, decencies, kindnesses, cruelties and all' Jan Morris

Once vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not just the waves, but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Just how did a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic achieve all this? And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Niall Ferguson's acclaimed Empire brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries, showing how a gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers planted the seed of the biggest empire in all history - and set the world on the road to modernity.

'The most brilliant British historian of his generation ... Ferguson examines the roles of "pirates, planters, missionaries, mandarins, bankers and bankrupts" in the creation of history's largest empire ... he writes with splendid panache ... and a seemingly effortless, debonair wit' Andrew Roberts

'Dazzling ... wonderfully readable' New York Review of Books

'Empire is a pleasure to read and brims with insights and intelligence' Sunday Times

Quotes

From Wikiquote

The difficulty with the achievements of the empire is that they are much more likely to be taken for granted than the sins of the empire.
The British Empire was the nearest thing there has ever been to a world government. Yet its mode of operation was a triumph of minimalism.
The empire had begun with the stealing of gold; it progressed with the cultivation of sugar.
Once pirates, then traders, the British were now the rulers of millions of people overseas – and not just in India. Thanks to a combination of naval and financial muscle they had become the winners in the European race for empire.