Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain (Hardcover) by John Darwin

from JBD1

John Darwin tries to pull off the near-impossible here: write a thorough narrative history of the rise and fall of the British empire in a single volume. It's a dense book, but he pursues his goal ably, capturing above all the complexity, messiness, and unplanned (even unplannable) nature of much...

from TeaTimeCoder

Without pointless apologies normally peppering these topics, summary of the process of building and collapse of the British empire. The collapse part was a bit rushed - I guess both in reality and in the book.

from lgaikwad

Note to myself: Speaking of his history of the British Empire and its demise, "...the long series of 'misjudgements' that we have traced...reveal something more interesting than the wisdom of hindsight. They suggest that predicting historical change is a hazardous business: there are too many fac...

from the.ken.petersen

I thought that this book might be fairly interesting to read: I was wrong! It is one of the best books that I have read all year. Like many people. either born in Britain, or with an interest in British history, I had a passing knowledge of the main events affecting the UK from the 17th to 21st c...

from the.ken.petersen

I thought that this book might be fairly interesting to read: I was wrong! It is one of the best books that I have read all year. Like many people. either born in Britain, or with an interest in British history, I had a passing knowledge of the main events affecting the UK from the 17th to 21st c...