Empire On The Seven Seas - The British Empire 1784-1939

by James Truslow Adams

Book by James Truslow Adams

Genres: History

404 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2007

About the author

Born to a wealthy Yankee family in Brooklyn, New York, Adams took his bachelor's degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1898, and a MA degree from Yale University in 1900. He entered investment banking, rising to partner in a New York Stock Exchange member firm. until 1912. In 1912, he considered his savings ample enough to switch his to a career as a writer.

Adams coined the term "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America. His American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.

An American historian, Adams wrote The Founding of New England (1921), which brought him the Pulitzer Prize in history for 1922, was followed by Revolutionary New England, 1691–1776 (1923) and New England in the Republic, 1776–1850 (1926). Among the best of his many books are Provincial Society, 1690–1763 (Vol. III in the “History of American Life” series, 1927) and The Epic of America (1931), which was widely translated. The Adams Family (1930) and Henry Adams (1933) were books on the famous Massachusetts clan, to which he was not related.

Reviews

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the history of the British Empire from the independence of America to the start of the Second World War, depicting domestic affairs, colonies, and foreign relations. Also, its topics range from politics to economics and various social life. Overall, the author illustrated great appreciation for the Empire and its ideas.
I like its description of the British reaction to the French Revolution and Napoleon. It smartly concluded Burke's pamphlet that "the attempt to add an r to evolution is fatal to orderly and perhaps even lasting progress." The writer did not conceal his sharp contrast between Britain and her allies in the war: the former is a lover of freedom while the latter is a despot. Though it sounded like over-simplification, there was at least some truth. By the end of the 18th century, Britain was the only main power in Europe that could be described as "free." I especially liked one sentence the writer quoted: "England has saved herself by her exertions and will save Europe by her example."
While there were plenty of examples of the Empire's glories and achievements, like the Great Exhibition, there were also some dark sides that foreshadowed the gradual collapse of the Empire in the 20th century. For example, the writer mentioned that Britain was falling behind some other European powers comparatively in the 1870s. Moreover, its public education was insufficient compared with the other industrialized countries. This aspect might have something to do with the author's argument that "widely extended electorate, under depressed economic conditions, was to be largely responsible for the spread of Socialism and the rise to power of the Labor Party."

[Yuke Liu · Rating 3 out of 5]

每章从本土到殖民领，把美国独立后到二战前的英国历史梳理一通。作为一个美国作者有着如此深切的对英帝国的热爱，可能更多是出于在二战那个特殊的历史时期的情感吧。整体门槛不高，奈何翻译水平实在徒增许多阅读难度，不知道译者和编辑是怎么让这本书出版的，同作为译者我想这样的书我是不好意思交稿的。