false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172347633m/166434.jpg 166434 15 At its peak in the nineteenth century, the British Empire was the largest empire ever known, governing roughly a quarter of the world's population. In <I>Empire</I>, Niall Ferguson explains how "an archipelago of rainy islands... came to rule the world," and examines the costs and consequences, both good and bad, of British imperialism. Though the book's breadth is impressive, it is not intended to be a comprehensive history of the British Empire; rather, Ferguson seeks to glean lessons from this history for future, or present, empires--namely America. Pointing out that the U.S. is both a product of the British Empire as well as an heir to it, he asks whether America--an "empire in denial"--should "seek to shed or to shoulder the imperial load it has inherited." As he points out in this fascinating book, there is compelling evidence for both.<p> Observing that "the difficulty with the achievements of empire is that they are much more likely to be taken for granted than the sins of empire," Ferguson stresses that the British did do much good for humanity in their quest for domination: promotion of the free movement of goods, capital, and labor and a common rule of law and governance chief among them. "The question is not whether British imperialism was without blemish. It was not. The question is whether there could have been a less bloody path to modernity," he writes. The challenge for the U.S., he argues, is for it to use its undisputed power as a force for positive change in the world and not to fall into some of the same traps as the British before them. <p> Covering a wide range of topics, including the rise of consumerism (initially fueled by a desire for coffee, tea, tobacco, and sugar), the biggest mass migration in history (20 million emigrants between the early 1600s and the 1950s), the impact of missionaries, the triumph of capitalism, the spread of the English language, and globalization, this is a brilliant synthesis of various topics and an extremely entertaining read. <I>--Shawn Carkonen</I> 838020 book 2003 Empire total:278|5:61|4:123|3:72|2:15|1:7| 278 1050 472 45 2 2 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sun Sep 23 08:30:55 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 23 08:44:13 -0700 2007
"A brief Google search of Niall Ferguson provides an ocean of i...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 25 03:45:44 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 25 03:59:41 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 27 07:20:32 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 07:46:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Feb 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 14:58:14 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 19:54:37 -0800 2009
An excellent read, it is flawed in the Australian content. In a footnote on page 194, Edward Eyre is described as being "the fi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 09:01:24 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 18:12:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 13 09:55:25 -0700 2009 Tue Feb 10 14:26:57 -0800 2009 Mon Jul 13 09:55:25 -0700 2009
Fergusons explores the economic basis of the empire - its start in the C...more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jun 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun May 25 13:12:55 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 24 07:38:23 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 18 14:07:10 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 18 17:36:35 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 06 21:11:52 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 10 06:20:25 -0700 2008 Ferguson writes well, and there is no shortage of great story-telling material to come out of the British imperial era. He probably has more affinity for the British Empire and its positive effects than most, or than is politica...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Nov 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jun 01 13:59:49 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 10 05:41:40 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Apr 02 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Mon Dec 29 17:40:05 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 17:41:45 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 29 21:16:54 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 21:19:33 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Tue Oct 23 13:06:15 -0700 2007 Thu Feb 14 21:56:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu Mar 27 20:19:20 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 27 20:26:55 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 23 06:54:04 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 06:34:29 -0800 2009
(still there are some good parts in this book, and some of it has been helpful in pub quizzes.)]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 11:16:27 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 11:21:38 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue May 15 19:17:07 -0700 2007 Tue May 15 19:21:29 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Oct 16 10:32:53 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 16 10:33:28 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jul 07 13:44:01 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 07 13:44:37 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Tue Mar 25 16:34:42 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 25 16:35:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=166434