The Rise and Fall of the British Empire [Hardcover]

Lawrence James (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312140398 | ISBN-13: 978-0312140397 | Publication Date: January 1996

A thoroughly researched, comprehensive history of the British Empire spans the years from 1600 to the present day, tracing the course of Britain's rise to a maritime superpower, its colonial heritage, and its gradual demise in this century.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

James, a British historian whose previous books have dealt chiefly with military matters, writes engagingly about the British Empire from the time of Sir Walter Raleigh at the beginning of the 17th century to Nelson Mandela at the end of the 20th. The struggle that drove France out of Canada, he says, was "Britain's first large-scale imperial war of conquest," and it set the pattern for future colonial wars from the American Revolution through the Napoleonic, Crimean, Boer, Afghan and Opium wars to WWI and the beginning of the end of the empire in India, Ireland, the Middle East and Africa. WWII finished the job. Except for the travels of Captain James Cook, tales of exploration play almost no part in this account. It is, instead, a history of how a fairly simple international mercantile enterprise?in which white dominions were definitely regarded differently from black ones?changed itself and the face of the world. James peppers his account with illuminating and entertaining excerpts from period songs and popular literature. His conclusion: few empires have given their subjects so much of the intellectual wherewithal to overthrow their rulers. A sprawling and complex subject handled with admirable style and selectivity. Illustrations.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A treatment more than 700 pages in length might seem too long to be thought of as an overview. But considering the time span and plethora of events involved in the topic at hand--the entire history of the British Empire--this excellent work of popular history is indeed an overview, for it surveys the major periods and events in Britain's rise and decline as a global power without attempting to be the definitive study of any one of those periods or events. On the other hand, this is not a textbook, being far more fluid, accessible, and personalized to be that. James' focus rests primarily on individuals--those who built the British Empire, those who maintained it, and those who, when it came time, eased it out of existence. Expanding from there, he weighs how "the British character was changed by the empire," from engendering in Britons "a sense of superiority" to encouraging their fast hold on democratic principles in the face of ruling other people, a dichotomy that ironically taught their colonies how to be self-governing, in other words, "equipped their subjects with the intellectual wherewithal to overthrow their rulers." A worthy addition to any history collection. Brad Hooper

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 720 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312140398
• ISBN-13: 978-0312140397
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #804,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly, intriguing--although rudimentary--account, March 2, 2005

By 

J. Walker (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (Hardcover)

A book with so ambitious a title as "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" holds much promise for the reader. Visions of 1000+ page tomes come to mind. After all, there is a lot of time and history involved with so monumental a subject. But James' account of what was arguably the greatest cultural, economic, and social force the world has ever known--the British empire--delivers solidly on that promise with clarity and brevity.

I won't mince words. The book is short for so massive a subject. But James executes it well. Some passages and accounts are agonizingly brief, of course, but the purpose of the book is not to delve deeply into the minutiae of the Empire's history. It provides a fairly elementary overview of the important events that unfolded to shape the Empire, painting an elegant background picture of the sheer scope and impact of imperialism.

Yes, pivotal situations, political turmoil, and wars are often glossed over, replaced by "big picture" statements or sweeping extrapolations and conclusions. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. The book's focus is decidely on the causes and effects of various events, and their place in the vast course of history that the Empire occupied. Events are covered in enough detail to allow James to continue his "big picture" story, but not in enough to detail to satiate an interested scholar.

Thus, the book is a fantastic background for anybody who is either completely unversed in English imperial history, or for readers wanting solid background knowledge to accomodate further, more detailed readings. But, as a background, this book is incredibly detailed. The book's accounts span some 400 years of British history, in which the nation evolved from a fairly mediocre European island power into one of the most dynamic and influential economic and military machines that the world has ever known. The people, the events, and the stories that contributed to this rise to power are all brought to live with stunning truth through James' writing. The book is divided into clear, understandable chapters that are well-written and researched.

James does not force didactic revisionist theories on us. He presents a clear, eloquent, interesting, and objective account of the British Empire, and leaves the reader with a deep and poigant understanding of the implications of the Empire's history.

This is an absolute must for not only those new to British history, but for the learned scholar who seeks a well-rounded, intriguing look into the vast span of Britain's imperial history.

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lengthy but effective, unbiased work on the empire, March 27, 2004

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (Paperback)

Lawrence James takes a straight factual narrative of the empire, neither going the neo-imperialist apologist route nor the leftist postmodernist road, equally emphasizing its achievements and darker moments. He does have an interesting style in introducing some of the chapters, and that is by describing the paintings that symbolized Britain at a certain point. He also uses poems, popular songs, and novels of the time to describe the sentiments at the time. At 629 pages, covering from 1600 up to 1993, it's quite a hefty read and may require a few sittings, but for a one volume work of the largest empire to last for a long time, it's effective.

James's focus is primarily economic and political, with the sociological aspects on the British left and anti-colonialists given quite coverage beginning in the 19th century. But the story's the same. England's empire was created for her need of goods from the New World, but really took off during its series of global wars against France and its allies beginning with the Nine Years War (1689-97) up to the American War For Independence (1775-1783). The reason was twofold, to prevent France from gaining a foothold in the New World and to outcompete France and Spain in its maritime trade network. And England won because of its banking system, which allowed for deficit spending, and its constitutional monarchy with Parliament having the powers of the purse, established with the Glorious Revolution that unseated James II.

The competition/antagonism with France over trade in Africa and India was refired in the 19th century, with Britain using its superior navy to establish its commercial hegemony. Yet there was another mission, and that was to civilize, to eliminate heathen practices (such as sati (widows immolating themselves on their late husband's pyre) in India, and introduce education and other British institutions in those faraway places. But that couldn't have been done with British work ethic, integrity, and a "dedication to the general welfare of mankind." Britain came out on top because of "native inventiveness and application of its people", "Britain's manufacturing industry", and "naval supremacy." Imperialism in itself is bad regardless of the country, as it leads to racism compared to the Germans and French, but the British were better than those countries given that they had a government that was the envy of all nations, although they retaliated in force only when attacked, e.g. Gordon, the Sepoy Uprising.

The rise of the leftist intellectuals who became more egalitarian and anti-imperialist couldn't have happened without the 1832 Parliamentary Reform Act, which gave the vote to the middle class, leading to a more democratic Britain. Many were Liberals or Radicals, and they contributed to the eventual fall of the Empire. Counter to that were the more conservative Tories, imperialists to the core, and who espoused jingoism, "a clamorous, pugnacious and intestinally inspired patriotism," something briefly resurrected during the Falklands War.

It was only when the empire was declining after the heavy loss of life in WW1, that the empire began to tighten its fist in a desperate attempt to cling onto its holdings. The massacre at Amristar (1919), the callous way it treated Middle Easterners, was the empire's dark side. This desperation can be seen with the establishment of Empire Day and the indoctrination of schoolchildren to look up to the empire, aided by pulp hero adventures by imperialist ex-war correspondent G.A. Henty, who cranked out imperialist propaganda to brainwash the youth. But being bankrupt by WW2, rising nationalist movements led by Gandhi, Nasser, and Nkrumah, and being dependent on US-influenced anti-colonialist foreign policy and aid, led to the empire's collapse into the Commonwealth, "a surrogate empire."

Each section is titled with start and end dates. However, in some sections, there are topics that cover the same time period, so although it looks like one is going into a time loop, keep in mind that many things were going on. For example, James covers the Irish situation from 1919-1939, and then in the next chapter, covers Egypt from 1919-1942, the Middle East during that same time period, and then India. Then he covers British social and economic dynamics in separate chapters.

Conclusion: "Few empires have equipped their subjects with the intellectial wherewithal to overthrow their rulers. None has been survived by so much affection and moral respect."

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rule Britannia!, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (Hardcover)

I just knocked off "Rise and Fall of the British Empire" and was impressed. James tackles a big subject-this was the empire on which the sun never set-and gives as good a one-volume narritive as can probably be given. It was interesting to see the Revolution from the other side of the pond. One can get a good grasp of the Imperial mindset, which makes you think that Britain was the most reluctant imperial power in history. There were two things that I wish he would have addressed more. The first would be more about Guyana. The second would be why did the British never seriously consider closer political ties with the white dominions-especially at an early stage-with an eye on eventual intigration with Great Britain, something like how territories in the United States eventually could become full states? I inferred that the British were just happy to get excess population off the islands, and that by the time they desired closer political bonds, the dominions had already started to carve out their own identities. But other than that, I think that this was a great book, I couldn't put it down.