Empire: The British Imperial Experience from 1765 to the Present - Softcover

Denis Judd

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848859953 ISBN 13: 9781848859951

Publisher: I.B. Tauris, 2012

Synopsis

The British Empire changed the face of the modern world. At its zenith it governed more than a quarter of the world's population, and spanned at least a fifth of its surface. Through these sovereign acquisitions, the British people derived wealth, influence and prestige. Empire also became a defining aspect of British identity, affording the nation a sense of international purpose and political and social unity. Yet, for many of those that it controlled, the Empire often represented something darker: an arbitrary power which disrupted local customs, social structures and government. In this new edition of his classic work, Denis Judd analyses the sweep of the British colonial story, from the American Revolution to the present day, decisively illustrating the influence of Britain's imperial past on her place in the twenty-first century. This renowned book, fully updated, will be essential reading for anyone interested in understanding modern Britain and its imperial history.

About this title

Review:

""Empire" stands alone as a survey of the British Empire...it provides an excellent introduction to the British imperial experience in all its complexity, including issues of gender, race, sexuality, and national identity." - Peter Weiler, Professor of History, Boston College
"Denis Judd deserves to be better known in the United States, and this book will make him so. It is a vividly readable history of the rise, spread and fall of British imperium since 1765. Judd tells it all, accurately and without chauvinism." - Walter Nugent, Tackes Professor Emeritus of History, Notre Dame University
"Among the most readable and astute examinations of British imperial history ever written. Its judgement is critical but fair. It is the culmination of a career of research and thinking about the British Empire, and it clearly reflects that both have been thorough. Truly a Magnum Opus." - Robert Cole, Professor of History, Utah State University
"An excellent book...The treatment by Professor Judd cannot be faulted...[he] comes to balanced and sensible conclusions...He also gives an admirable chronology." - "The Times
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"The best general history on the subject now available...always stimulating and absorbing and sometimes an unrivalled tour d'horizon." - "Irish Times
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"An excellent new study...compelling reading. A refreshing willingness to indulge in 'what if' speculations also shows Judd at his revisionist best." - Andrew Roberts, "Sunday Times
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"A superb, immense and very splendid book." - Tony Palmer, BBC Radio 3, Nightwaves
"Wonderfully ambitious...a pungent and attractive survey of the British Empire." - Linda Colley, "London Review of Books
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"Denis Judd has provided a valuable and sometimes innovative synthesis...Each chapter begins with a vivid narrative of a key event... [there is] the skill with which Judd intercuts his narrative with lively and well-balanced summaries of even the most rebarbative current historical debates." - "Times Higher Education Supplement
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"This excellent book...It is one of the merits of Judd's book that he helps to restore the balance between the good and the bad, and the ugly, and in so doing helps us the better to understand the Empire in all its complexity. He brings impressive credentials to his task, the scale of which is enormous...he has wisely opted for a thematic approach. His style is clear and readable. The story of the Empire is not yet over, nor its epitaph written, but this book is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of that story thus far." - "Glasgow Herald
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"This book is in many ways the culminating work of Professor Judd's career, bringing together immense erudition, genuine narrative gifts and a capacity to pick out important details from a vast range of materials...Judd's narrative method is highly original." - National Review

From the Back Cover:

The British Empire radically altered the modern world. At its height, it governed over a quarter of the human race, and encompassed more than a fifth of the globe. As well as providing the British people with profits and a sense of international purpose, the Empire afforded them the opportunity to create new lives for themselves through migration and settlement. For those it dominated and controlled, the Empire often represented arbitrary power, gunboat diplomacy, the disruption of local customs and government by a distant and sometimes coldly unsympathetic administration. Yet while it rested ultimately upon military force and direct rule, the Empire also pulsated with ideals – of freedom, democracy, and even equality.

"A detailed, colony-by-colony and episode-by-episode narrative, written with great thoroughness and keen analysis. It is also very well written and will become an indispensable one-volume source for anyone concerned to know about the most important non-domestic institution created by the British during their existence as a single nation."
JOHN KEEGAN, 'Literary Review'

"Wonderfully ambitious ... a pungent and attractive survey of the British Empire from 1765 to the present."
LINDA COLLEY, 'London Review of Books'

"The best general history on the subject now available ... always stimulating and absorbing and sometimes an unrivalled tour d'horizon."
FRANK McLYNN, 'Irish Times'

"Thoroughly readable ... can be recommended to students as much as to the general reader."
C.A. BAYLY, 'Times Higher Educational Supplement'

About this edition

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1848859953
• ISBN 13: 9781848859951
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 552