The Empire Project - by John Darwin (Hardcover)

Number of Pages: 800
Genre: History
Sub-Genre: World
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Age Range: Adult
Author: John Darwin
Featured book lists: Adopted Trade Books
Language: English

About the Book

A magisterial global history of the rise and fall of the British Empire by an award-winning author.

Book Synopsis

The British Empire, wrote Adam Smith, 'has hitherto been not an empire, but the project of an empire' and John Darwin offers a magisterial global history of the rise and fall of that great imperial project. The British Empire, he argues, was much more than a group of colonies ruled over by a scattering of British expatriates until eventual independence. It was, above all, a global phenomenon. Its power derived rather less from the assertion of imperial authority than from the fusing together of three different kinds of empire: the settler empire of the 'white dominions'; the commercial empire of the City of London; and 'Greater India' which contributed markets, manpower and military muscle. This unprecedented history charts how this intricate imperial web was first strengthened, then weakened and finally severed on the rollercoaster of global economic, political and geostrategic upheaval on which it rode from beginning to end.

Review Quotes

"... a brilliant book and is essential reading for professional historians ..."
American Historical Review

"... a rousing success."
Victorian Studies

"... combines bold generalizations with stunning mastery of intricate political and economic detail."
Mark Hampton, Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d' histoire

"... there is no doubting the high quality of Darwin's book. It is based on profound scholarship, is engaging and inquiring, and shows a mastery of both the detail and the bigger picture ... It is not merely in the grand overview and in the skilful synthesising of so much material that Darwin impresses. The book is also a masterly work of exposition and analysis. On almost every page one is aware of the sheer weight of scholarship that is able not merely to present information clearly and with ease, but also to draw together a host of facts, interpretations, even speculation, and continually make sense of it all."
Times Literary Supplement

"... this is a book that is full of fascinating 'internal history' of the British Empire. It is certainly more than worth its price for the information it contains on the internal empire."
Denis O'Hearn, International Journal of Comparative Sociology

"... this is the best general history of British imperialism to date; a tremendous achievement."
Bernard Porte, British scholar

"... [this] book is a welcome addition to the ever-growing studies [on] British imperial history ... well-researched and convincingly argued ... [and] gracefully written in a fluent style. Darwin provides readers with a comprehensive and in-depth insight into the rise and decline of the British world system ... very informative and engaging ..."
Chia-Lin Huang, European History Quarterly

"Historians are more than ever inclined to fight shy of overarching histories of Britain's empire. Nothing daunted, and with style, splendid assurance, and encyclopaedic knowledge, John Darwin unravels the dynamic connections and external pressures that forged a British world system and then influenced its dissolution. His account will command attention for years to come."
Andrew Porter, author of European Imperialism, 1860-1914

"John Darwin's The Empire Project is a tour de force, a major work of revisionist synthesis and interpretation, rich in data and insight, to which this short review cannot do justice ... It is a 'must-read' for all serious students of the British Empire."
Soldiers of the Queen: The Journal of the Victorian Military Society

"The great contribution of Darwin's book is that it hammers a final nail into the coffin of an imperial history that saw the British empire as crafted solely from London."
History Workshop Journal

"With its clear narrative, detailed analysis and penetrating insight, Andrew Porter is right that it 'will command attention for years to come'. This is certainly the book to read if you are teaching British colonisation."
Richard Brown, Historical Association

"Highly recommended."
Choice

"John Darwin's book is a tour de force. Never before have the dynamics of the British Empire been analysed with such deep knowledge and penetrating insight."
Piers Brendon, author of The Decline and Fall of the British Empire

"The Empire Project is a brilliant and highly readable account of one of the great themes in modern history. It will attract the general reader as well as fellow historians because of the sweep of the narrative from the early part of the nineteenth century to the end of Empire in the 1970s. It possesses compelling insight into the links between India, the 'white dominions' and the colonial dependencies throughout the world. This is a life's work and a landmark in the subject."
Wm. Roger Louis, author of Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization