Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain

John Darwin's "After Tamerlane," a sweeping six-hundred-year history of empires around the globe, marked him as a historian of "massive erudition" (the "Guardian") and narrative mastery. In "Unfinished Empire," he marshals his gifts to deliver a monumental one-volume history of Britain's imperium--a [...]
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John Darwin's "After Tamerlane," a sweeping six-hundred-year history of empires around the globe, marked him as a historian of "massive erudition" (the "Guardian") and narrative mastery. In "Unfinished Empire," he marshals his gifts to deliver a monumental one-volume history of Britain's imperium--a work that is sure to stand as the most authoritative and compelling treatment of the subject for a generation. It was hailed as one of the 10 best books of 2013 by Jonathan Yardley of "The Washington Pos"t.Darwin's penetrating analysis offers a corrective to those who portray the empire as either naked exploitation or a grand "civilizing mission." Far from ever having a "master plan," the British Empire was controlled by a range of interests often at loggerheads with one another and was as much driven on by others' weaknesses as by its own strength. "Unfinished Empire" is a remarkable, nuanced history of the most complex polity the world has ever known, and a serious attempt to describe the diverse, contradictory ways--military and cultural--in which empires really function.