The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997

Starred review from November 1, 2008
At its height, the British Empire covered nearly a quarter of the world's land and ruled over 400 million people. Yet as illustrated in this well-researched book by Brendon (Fellow of Churchill Coll., Cambridge; "The Dark Valley"), throughout much of its existence this powerful entity was suffering a slow process of decay. Tracing the history of the empire from its loss of the American Colonies to the handover of Hong Kong, he examines the contradictory nature of its principles and actions. Founded on the ideas of caretaking and eventual liberty for those colonized, the empire was all too willing to expand beyond its means and stifle attempts at independence in order to retain its own global superioritya process that only hastened its inevitable downfall. While the scope of the subject is vast, Brendon handles the material with skill and provides a sharp and grim contrast to more positive studies of the topic. The narrative is enhanced by the inclusion of fascinating anecdotessometimes amusing, sometimes appallingabout the worlds of the colonies and the lives of those who ruled them. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries. (Illustrations not seen.) [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 6/1/08.]Kathleen McCallister, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia

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Starred review from September 15, 2008
The title, taken from Gibbons immortal work on imperial Rome, was chosen since British imperialists consciously compared their empire to the Roman imperium. Despite thetitle, this is no dreary tale of imperial decay and collapse. Instead, Brendon, a fellow atChurchill College, Cambridge, has written a colorful and often brilliant examination of the imperial experience from the American Revolution to the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty. He combines the genres of narrative history, travelogue, and biographical sketch to capture the richness, majesty, squalor, and injustice that created and maintained a vast edifice that has left an indelible imprint on the contemporary world. The narrative ranges across imperial settings in a successful effort to illustrate how both ordinary and extraordinary people lived, thrived, and often suffered under the British flag. Of course, decline and ultimate fall is part of the story. As a liberal empire based (in spirit if not always in practice) on the ideals of political liberty and even equality, it was an empire that contained the seeds of its own destruction, as citizens from America to India took those ideals to heart. The breadth, diversity, greatness, and failures of the British Empire have rarely been portrayed as well.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)