A good and well written book on what is now a controversial subject. Ferguson is up front on his ideological position on the subject and thus produces a reasonable general survey. He is not intending to write a specific and specialised account aimed at the specialist historian. It is primarily a general survey aimed at people interested in the subject. It avoids the wilder shores of the ideological debate which now bedevils debate on this subject. The recommendation of 4 stars given above is slightly above where I would place the book but the book is certainly considerably better than the three star rating in the above categorisation. Really it is what I expected given the previous material of his I have read and his unfortunately now ended column in the Sunday Times. The ideologues on the history of the British Empire will I suspect dislike it and that in itself is a recommendation. (also the content of a history book in my view can never be appropriately described as "compelling" and thus the answer given above.Read full review
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