Customer Reviews

Pax Britannica: Climax of an Empire

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James Morris' PAX BRITANNICA, which uses the British Empire as it was in l900 as a framework, is the best work of popular history I've every read. Morris (who is now "Jan" rather than "James") is one of the world's great writers. This absorbing book focuses on the personalities, great and small, who shaped and controlled the Empire in its glory days. Of course there are many diversions, surprises and curiosities, and Morris fully exploits his brilliant talents as a teller of stories. Morris is as much travel writer as historian. Much of the pleasure (and credibility) of PAX BRITANNICA rests in the fact that Morris visited most of the places of empire and he describes many of them as they were when he was writing the book in the early 1970s. Nothing brings history to life like going to the places where it happened.

PAX BRITANNICA is part of a trilogy. Although the first in the series to be written, chronologically, it falls between HEAVEN'S COMMAND, about the creation of the Empire, and FAREWELL THE TRUMPETS, about the loss of the empire. Although quite splendid, in my opinion, the latter works lack the edge of inspiration, engagement and liveliness which make PAX BRITANNICA so special.

Other notable books by Morris include OXFORD, HONG-KONG, THE WORLD OF VENICE, AMONG THE CITIES and MANHATTAN `45. The versatile, wide-ranging Morris has also recently written a book called LINCOLN: A Foreigner's Quest.

Jan Morris is a fascinating personality. She originally was a he, and he was a guardsman in the British army, an officer from a good family. He left the service, became a historian, and then went to Denmark or wherever, and came back a she. She now writes unusual, affecting, eccentric, entertaining books that are terribly British and a bit disorganized. The Pax Brittanica trilogy is her life's work, near enough, though she's done other books that are very good. This one, however, is three volumes long, quite involved and very detailed. The series includes Heaven's Command, Pax Britannica, and Farewell the Trumpets. The first generally deals with the Empire in the 1840s on, the second follows things through the thirties, and the third follows the empire through its disbandment.

As I said, Morris is eccentric. This means that though the books are sort of chronological, they aren't exactly sorted the way you would expect, and this isn't really a history of the empire or the era. Instead, it's an anecdotal collection of tales, incidents, and sketches, marvelously told. Sort of like the difference between going through a cafeteria once and a sumptuous buffet where you go back and forth, taking time with what you enjoy. I thoroughly enjoyed the books, though I would hesitate to recommend them to someone who wasn't clear on either geography, or at least some basic history of the British Empire. Since this isn't either of those, you need them to understand what she's talking about occasionally.

This book focuses not only on the actions of history, but the aesthetics as well. It colorfully illustrates the lives of the "Imperial pioneers"; Kitchener, Rhodes, Churchill, Livingston and many more. It also covers the grandest moments of Imperial history- the beginnings of the mercantile empire in Asia, to the moral thrusts in Africa and the Carribean. It is part of a tryptich set, which includes "Heaven' Command" and "Sound of the Trumpets" Though thorough, the book is never preachy.

I just finished this volume. The writing is exquisite. I must confess that I found the first volume, Heaven's Command, better and more gripping. Here again, my only quibble, is that in the Harcourt set that I have there are no pictures!! That definitely takes away a star!!

I bought the trilogy in 1984 and have re-read it every year since then. Morris's attention to the finest details is amazing! I especially love the footnotes that provide further details to the cast of characters or updates on places, bulidings or sites as they are today. Jan's travel writing background especially evokes the visceral, from the bright colors, smells even the humidity of far flung places.

Its the only series you will ever need to read on the British Empire!