Niall Ferguson's acclaimed bestseller on the highs and lows of Britain's empire Once vast
swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not just the waves but the
prairies of America the plains of Asia the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Just
how did a small rainy island in the North Atlantic achieve all this? And why did the empire on
which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Niall Ferguson's acclaimed Empire
brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries showing how a
gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers planted the seed of the biggest empire in all history - and
set the world on the road to modernity. 'The most brilliant British historian of his generation
... Ferguson examines the roles of pirates planters missionaries mandarins bankers and
bankrupts in the creation of history's largest empire ... he writes with splendid panache ...
and a seemingly effortless debonair wit' Andrew Roberts
