Customer Reviews

Heaven's Command: An Imperial Progress

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This is the way to write (and read) history. Morris gives us silly, sad and wonderful tales of real people whose characters enliven the shadow of Britain as cast across the world stage, lengthening as year succeeds to year.

This is the first of three volumes that cover the reign of Queen Victoria. We are treated to all of the stories of Empire, as the soldiers and sailors of the Queen spread out across the globe to forge a truly global sphere of influence.

History need not be dull, and Morris is proof. This and the other volumes in the trilogy are outstandingly fascinating. We are anywhere that the Sun Never Sets, among some of the most creative and eccentric people imaginable.

The entire trilogy is well worth your time and attention.

I thoroughly enjoyed Jan Morris' survey of the 19th century British Empire. Having studied this topic from numerous other sources and perspectives, I still found this to be a refreshing account, and one that tied numerous facets into a cohesive whole. While some might regard Morris as writing with too much of a pro-British bias, I did not find the lack of politically-correct 'empire-bashing' to be problematic. Indeed, Morris emphasizes the negative (and the ludicrous) right alongside the positive. In the few instances where the perspective is obviously skewed, the informed student of history can easily read between the lines. In short, for the curious, I recommend this as the finest single volume on this topic, both for its informative content and its exciting, engaging writing style. I look forward to reading more of Morris' works.