THE RISE & FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE covers the history of British expansion overseas from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Narrative & analysis are interwoven with revealing eyewitness"ation to provide keen insight into the minds of those involved in conquering, settling & ruling the greatest Empire the world has seen. Throughout, there are consistant themes; the search for profit & the moral misgivings it generated; domestic developments which made imperial expansion desirable; & the sense of national & personal destiny felt by the empire-builders. Spanning four centuries & six continents, James` magnificent survey examines the imperial experience & its legacy with tremendous verve. Informed, comprehensive & perceptive, it is the essential summary of the era. ` James` epic is not only a first-rate narrative, but also a penetrating portrait of the British... Having largely, if often inadvertently, selfishly or ham-fistedly, engineered the world we live in, we need the courage now to face up to our record as coolly & intelligently as Lawrence James has done`
- John Spurling, TLS
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This is a story studded with extraordinary achievements & historic moments, from the building of the pyramids & the conquest of Nubia, through Akhenaten`s religious revolution, the power & beauty of Nefertiti, the glory of Tutankhamun`s burial chamber, & the ruthlessness of Ramesses, to Alexander the Great`s invasion, & Cleopatra`s fatal entanglement with Rome. As the world`s first nation-state, the history of Ancient Egypt is above all the story of the attempt to unite a disparate realm & defend it against hostile forces from within & without. Combining grand narrative sweep with detailed knowledge of hieroglyphs & the iconography of power, Toby Wilkinson reveals Ancient Egypt in all its complexity. ...

Paul Kennedy`s classic naval history, now updated with a new introduction by the author This acclaimed book traces Britain`s rise & fall as a sea power from the Tudors to the present day. Challenging the traditional view that the British are natural `sons of the waves`, he suggests instead that the country`s fortunes as a significant maritime force have always been bound up with its economic growth. In doing so, he contributes significantly to the centuries-long debate between `continental` & `maritime` schools of strategy over Britain`s policy in times of war. Setting British naval history within a framework of national, international, economic, political & strategic considerations, he offers a fresh approach to one of the central questions in British history. A new introduction extends his analysis into the twenty-first century & reflects on current American & Chinese ambitions for naval mastery. ` Excellent & stimulating` Correlli Barnett ` The first scholar to have set the sweep of British Naval history against the background of economic history` Michael Howard, Sunday Times ` By far the best study that has ever been done on the subject.. .a sparkling & apt"ation on practically every page` Daniel A. Baugh, International History Review ` The best single-volume study of Britain & her naval past now available to us` Jon Sumida, Journal of Modern History ...

The crisis of 2008 ended the illusion of a golden era in which many people imagined that prosperity & political calm would continue to spread indefinitely. In a world now racked by slowing growth & mounting unrest, how can we discern which nations will thrive & which will fail? Shaped by prize-winning author Ruchir Sharma`s twenty-five years travelling the world, The Rise & Fall of Nations rethinks economics as a practical art. By narrowing down the thousands of factors that can shape a country`s future, it spells out ten clear rules for identifying the next big winners & losers in the global economy. Each rule looks at a nation`s political, economic, & social conditions in real time to filter out the hype & noise. ` People Matters` shows how slow population growth is eroding economic growth, & ranks nations by how well they respond. The `circle of life` describes the way cycles of political complacency & revolt fuel economic booms & bust. Amid growing tensions over inequality, ` Good Billionaires, Bad Billionaires` demonstrates how billionaire lists yield clues to which economies are most or least threatened by extreme wealth. In a period when the world is struggling with trillions of dollars in new debt, the ` Kiss of Debt` explains which nations are most likely to avert this threat or buckle under it. Together, the ten rules are instructive for anyone who wants to know which nations are most likely to rise or fall in our own time. The final chapter takes the reader on a surprising world tour of the likely winners & losers in the near future. Enlivened by Sharma`s encounters with presidents, tycoons, & villagers from Rio to Beijing, this book is a pioneering field guide to understanding our impermanent world. ...

From the acclaimed author of Britain`s War Machine & The Shock of the Old, a bold reassessment of Britain`s twentieth century. It is usual to see the United Kingdom as an island of continuity in an otherwise convulsed & unstable Europe; its political history a smooth sequence of administrations, from building a welfare state to coping with decline. Nobody would dream of writing the history of Germany, say, or the Soviet Union in this way. David Edgerton`s major new history breaks out of the confines of traditional British national history to redefine what it was to British, & to reveal an unfamiliar place, subject to huge disruptions. This was not simply because of the world wars & global economic transformations, but in its very nature. Until the 1940s the United Kingdom was, Edgerton argues, an exceptional place: liberal, capitalist & anti-nationalist, at the heart of a European & global web of trade & influence. Then, as its global position collapsed, it became, for the first time & only briefly, a real, successful nation, with shared goals, horizons & industry, before reinventing itself again in the 1970s as part of the European Union & as the host for international capital, no longer capable of being a nation. Packed with surprising examples & arguments, The Rise & Fall of the British Nation gives us a grown-up, unsentimental history which takes business & warfare seriously, & which is crucial at a moment of serious reconsideration for the country & its future. ...

WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE Paul Kennedy`s international bestseller is a sweeping account of five hundred years of fluctuating economic muscle & military might. Kennedy`s masterwork begins in the year 1500, at a time of various great centres of power including Minh China, the Ottomans, the rising Mughal state, the nations of Europe. But it was the latter which, through competition, economic growth & better military organisation, came to dominate the globe
- until challenged later by Japan, the Soviet Union, & the United States. Now China, boosted by its own economic prowess, rises to the fore. Throughout this brilliant work, Kennedy persuasively demonstrates the interdependence of economic & military power, showing how an imbalance between the two has historically led to spectacular political disaster. Erudite & brilliantly original, The Rise & Fall of the Great Powers is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the politics of power.
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At its height Renaissance Florence was a centre of enormous wealth, power & influence. A republican city-state funded by trade & banking, its often bloody political scene was dominated by rich mercantile families, the most famous of which were the Medici. This enthralling book charts the family`s huge influence on the political, economic & cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists & architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes & Grand Dukes, Florence`s slide into decay & bankruptcy, & the end, in 1737, of the Medici line. ...

Out of the failures of Iraq & Afghanistan, the Arab Spring & Syria, a new threat emerges. While Al Qaeda is weakened, new jihadi movements, especially ISIS, are starting to emerge. In military operations in June 2014 they were far more successful than Al Qaeda ever were, taking territory that reaches across borders &

Includes:: the city of Mosul. The reports of their military coordination & brutality are chilling. While they call for the formation of a new caliphate once again the West becomes a target. How could things have gone so badly wrong? In The Rise of Islamic State, Cockburn analyzes the reasons for the unfolding of US & the West`s greatest foreign policy debacle & the impact that it has on the war-torn & volatile Middle East.

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Beginning with the founding myths of Romulus & Remus & a succession of probably fictitious kings, Anthony Everitt charts the development of Rome from its origins as a small market town in the eighth century BC, through various forms of patrician government, up to Caesar`s victory in the Civil War that defeated the Roman Republic & paved the way for Augustus to transform republican oligarchy into imperial autocracy. Using recent archaeological evidence & historical facts, & a wealth of legend & anecdote, Everitt shows how Rome grew
- both internally, via ever more ambitious construction projects, & externally, through successful military campaigns. In doing so, he highlights some fascinating parallels between ancient Roman society & the modern world. As readable & accessible as it is authoritative & scholarly, THE RISE OF ROME is the perfect introduction to Roman history & civilization for the general reader.
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In the late Iron Age, Rome was a small collection of huts arranged over a few hills. By the third century BC, it had become a large & powerful city, with monumental temples, public buildings & grand houses. It had conquered the whole of Italy & was poised to establish an empire. But how did it accomplish this historic transformation? This book explores the development of Rome during this period, & the nature of its control over Italy, considering why & how the Romans achieved this spectacular dominance. For Rome was only one of a number of emerging centres of power during this period. From its complex forms of government, to its innovative connections with other states, Kathryn Lomas shows what set Rome apart. Examining the context & impact of the city`s dominance, as well as the key political, social & economic changes it engendered, this is crucial reading for anyone interested in Ancient Rome. ...