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Title: Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power by Niall Ferguson, Sean Barrett ISBN: 0-7927-3203-0 Publisher: Sound Library Pub. Date: April, 2004 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 14 List Price(USD): $110.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3.49 (37 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: A Very Pukka Look At The British Empire
Comment: Niall Ferguson has made a name for himself as the historian of counterfactuals, or imaginative looks at "history as it could have been." He was the editor of Virtual History, which provides alternate scenarios of past events, and the author of The Pity of War, a look at World War I which concluded that the world would be immensely better off today if the British had stayed out in August 1914 and let the Germans win. Now in Empire Ferguson has given us a history of the British Empire which any nineteenth century imperialist would pronounce to be pukka, or first rate.

Basically Ferguson argues that the British Empire was a positive contribution to the world in that it gave its colonial possessions traditions like self-government and personal liberties. Ferguson does not maintain that there were no abuses of power or that none of the indigeneous peoples ruled by British officials were ever mistreated, but he does believe that on balance, more good was done than bad. He makes this argument most strongly in covering the twentieth century, when he points out that the British were much better colonial rulers than the Germans or Japanese were. Most of Empire's readers will undoubtedly agree with this point, but many will also wonder why it was necessary for the British to colonize these peoples in the first place. Ferguson is straightforward, saying that the original reason for imperialism was greed for products like tea. More highflown objectives like ending the slave trade and converting "primitive" areas to civilization and Christianity came much later,and never diverted attention for very long from the basic quest for wealth. Ferguson is also direct in saying that the major reason for the end of the Empire after World War II was that it was simply too expensive to keep going. The last pages are especially timely in that Ferguson speculates on the role of a revived imperialism of the twenty-first century in the hands of Britain's most famous former colony, the United States.

One of Empire's major flaws is its tendency to give short shrift to the cultures which came under British power. The Mughals of India are barely discussed, and Qing Dynasty China rates even less attention. Ferguson's basic attitude is that those cultures were no better, and in some ways much worse, than the British who came to dominate them. For another view of Britain's supposed superiority in governing Asian territories, you could read Mike Davis' Late Victorian Holocausts, which chronicles British ineptitude in dealing with famine in India and China.

The book is well written and beautifully illustrated. I hope that the British TV series it companions will eventually be shown on PBS. Like the book, it should be controversial and thought-provoking.

Rating: 5
Summary: A Great Book
Comment: The British Empire was the biggest, most powerful Empire ever known both militaristically and economically. Success like that doesn't come without a price. Many atrocities were committed and no amount of justification can change that appalling part of British history. However even in these modern times atrocities are committed all the time by nations on every continent of the world. Terror it would seem is part of human nature now as it was back then.

Many reviewers go on about British atrocities, how the empire was built on other people's sufferings but was America not built on Indian land? The author fails to note many arguments of how what Britian did was no different to what empires both old and new have done. Where thousands of Indians not killed or forced out of their homes to make way for new American settlements? In a time were humanity was less then kind and generous Britain achieved what had never been achieved before, almost complete world domination. It modernized much of the world, brought order were there was none and kept down many evil dictators bent on world conquest (Hitler, Napoleon...).

The book is not an apology for British rule but a refreshing look at the benefits of British rule, what Britian brought to the world. It doesn't skip the bad points of that nor justify them, it a good view of British history.

5 Stars

It's a great book!

Rating: 3
Summary: Rule Britannia ifrom the Scotch Scholar Ferguson
Comment: Rule Britannia. In this well done historical work Professor Ferguson draws lessons from the years when the British nation stood supreme as an empirial colossus. England ruled over 25% of the globe for several centuries until the empire died so that freedom might live in the battle versus Fascism in World War II.
Ferguson shows us the growth of English empire by looking at trading and religious trends in the farflung lands ruled by Queen Victoria. He examines British rule in such farflung lands as India, the Caribbean, Africa and the Far East.
The Empire was good in its emphasis on law and order bringing Western ideas of democracy to many parts of the world. The empire also was guilty of many crimes such as slavery, greed and Western domination of other cultures.
On the whole, however, the Empire was valuable for its civilizing influnece training emerging nations in democratic government.
Ferguson is a brilliant writer especially strong on economic growth allowing England to dominate the nineteenth century through her sea trade and control over vast areas of the globe. In a day when the United States is the new empire we can learn from the lessons of British power.
This book is well done but maps could have been used to make the text more understandable. The book could serve as a prequel to his new book on Amercan power called Colossus.
A good book which is informative and important in this 21st global village world in which we all live