best history of the british empire ever?

May 20, 2005 12:02 PM

What's the best history of the British Empire you've ever read? I'm looking for something reasonably scholarly but still very readable.
posted by transona5 to Education (14 answers total)

Good question. I have been reading "The Four Nations : A History of the United Kingdom" by Frank Welsh. It is okay, but not stimulating enough to keep me at it. I keep picking up and finishing other books. It does have lots of good information though. Perhaps someone will recommend something else that will allow me to put this book aside for good.
posted by caddis at 12:17 PM on May 20, 2005

I haven't read his books, myself, but Simon Schama's apparently built a whole career writing books on the subject (among others) that are apparently well-regarded and very popular.

Plus, he looks like Elvis Costello.
posted by LairBob at 12:20 PM on May 20, 2005

Another "book I haven't read", but David Cannadine is an excellent author and lecturer on British history. You may want to check out his Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire.
posted by mkultra at 12:52 PM on May 20, 2005

A book on that topic is the great Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World which examines imperialism coinciding with the devastating famines of the late 19th Century. "Examining a series of El Niño-induced droughts and the famines that they spawned around the globe in the last third of the 19th century, Mike Davis discloses the intimate, baleful relationship between imperial arrogance and natural incident that combined to produce some of the worst tragedies in human history."
posted by scazza at 12:59 PM on May 20, 2005

For something that combines "the nose of the journalist, the scholarliness of the historian, and the eye and sensibility of the travel writer," try the Pax Britannica Trilogy by James/Jan Morris.
posted by pooligan at 1:29 PM on May 20, 2005

In the realm of pure fiction, based loosely on historical fact, try London by Edward Rutherford. Readable, interesting.
posted by five fresh fish at 1:59 PM on May 20, 2005

Winston Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples is great.
posted by Vidiot at 4:21 PM on May 20, 2005

I would second Churchill reccomendation, altough the entire series is somewhat broader. Niall Ferguson's 'Empire' is excellent and, as well as being a very readable and informed book. also approaches the whole issue in a non-standard way (ie imperialism wasn't all bad).
posted by prentiz at 5:39 PM on May 20, 2005

I second the James/Jan Morris recommendation - well written, witty, fascinatining detail.
posted by WestCoaster at 5:56 PM on May 20, 2005

Paul Johnson, The Offshore Islanders. Written while he was still a flaming lefty. Highly readable. As a companion piece, he also did a history of Ireland
posted by IndigoJones at 6:47 PM on May 20, 2005

Empire. Oh, what prentiz said, aye.
posted by bonaldi at 9:30 PM on May 20, 2005

There's a brand new Oxford history of the British Empire series. It's suposed to be very good - articles by scholars in the various fields. It's a couple of volumes (early, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries), but you would really know the Empire once you're done : )

I'm afraid I haven't read the Cannadine either, but his Class in Britain is excellent.
posted by jb at 12:17 AM on May 21, 2005

Shoot Straight, You Bastards!: The Truth
Behind the Killing of `Breaker Morant / Nick Bleszynski.

A review of the film by a history grad student

Law Review Article about the Morant case

-------------------------------------------------

The Great Anglo-Boer War / Byron Farwell.

Prisoners of the Mahdi: The Story of the Mahdist Revolt which Frustrated Queen Victoria's Designs on the Sudan, Humbled Egypt, and Led to the Fall of Khartoum, the Death of Gordon, and Kitchener's Victory at Omdurman Fourteen Years Later / Byron Farwell.

Clive of India / Mark Bence-Jones.

Reminiscences of Forty-Three Years in India: Including Cabul Disasters, Captivities in Affghanistan and the Punjaub, and a Narrrative of the Mutinies in Rajputana / Sir George Lawrence.

Manliness And Masculinities In Nineteenth-Century Britain : Essays On Gender, Family, And Empire / John Tosh.

The Pursuit Of History : Aims, Methods, And New Directions In The Study Of Modern History / John Tosh.
posted by drakepool at 2:56 AM on May 21, 2005

Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India / Bernard S. Cohn
posted by drakepool at 3:20 AM on May 21, 2005