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Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization

Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization
By Wm. Roger Louis

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Pax Britannica to Pax Americana is the story of the British Empire from its late-nineteenth century flowering to its present extinction. Louis traces the British Empire from the scramble for Africa, the turbulent imperial history of the Second World War in Asia, and the mid-20th century rush to independence to the Suez crisis, the icon of empire's end. It forms the ideal platform from which to examine the aims and outcome of empire. This authoritative and highly engaging history appears at a time when interest in the history of the British Empire has, ironically, never been stronger, making Ends of British Imperialism a must-read item for both scholar and general reader.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #731466 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-05-15
  • Released on: 2007-07-10
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 1082 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wm. Roger Louis is preeminent among historians of the British Empire. This volume puts on dazzling display the full range of his accomplishment. It not only shows all that he has taught us in the past; it sets the agenda for a new generation of scholarship." -- Ernest R. May, Harvard University

"Sir John Seeley memorably quipped that the British Empire was acquired in a fit of absence of mind. Now we can thank Wm. Roger Louis for finding another aphorism on the history of the British Empire: 'Decolonization was the mirror image of the Scramble for Colonies'."  -- W. David McIntyre, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

"Ends of British Imperialism is to die for! It recognizes the unbelievable continuity of quality and focul of Roger Louis's research over many decades...I am full of admiration for it...wonderful!" -- Stanley Katz, former President, American Council on Learned Societies
 
"The Ends of British Imperialism...provide[s] a scintillating portrait of British decision making in the final stages of imperial rule." --Times Literary Supplement
 

"A magisterial tour d’horizon…by a writer whose reputation as a historian of the Empire is formidable." -- Journal of the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association

"A consistently stimulating book, with many lessons for today." – The Overseas Pensioner

"It is good to have these various writings gathered together in one volume." -- Contemporary Review

About the Author

Wm. Roger Louis is Kerr Professor of English History and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin and Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford.

Customer Reviews

An excellent collection of essays from a great scholar5
William Roger Louis is a giant among scholars of British imperialism. The editor of the "Oxford History of the British Empire", for nearly half a century his scholarship has helped define the field. Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Suez crisis he has collected his essays related to that defining episode. These not only cover the incident itself but a number of related topics - for as he explains, "the Suez crisis can be studied as an episode in decolonization and that decolonization itself . . . can best be understood in the context of the long colonial era extending from the British occupation of Egypt in 1882 to the death of Nasser in 1970 and the withdrawal of all troops East of Suez in the following year."

Louis groups these essays into ten categories. After an introductory overview of Suez and decolonization, he provides an essay on colonial empires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and four on "the scramble for Africa". These are followed by four which examine the First World War and the mandates system, two on the British possessions of Singapore and Hong Kong, and four on India, Palestine and Egypt, which are linked together by the theme of impending independence. After five essays on decolonization in general, he includes six on aspects of the Suez crisis itself and four more on Britain's withdrawal from the rest of the Middle East in its aftermath before finishing with three essays on the historiography of his field.

Though all but one of these essays have been published before now, bringing them together allows Louis to draw out three main themes. The first is the one which occasioned the volume - the study of Suez in the broader context of decolonization. This last, failed effort to hold onto the empire through force led the British to attempt to maintain some vestige of their influence through more informal means, which is the second theme of his collection. Finally, as British control gradually slipped, new states emerged throughout Africa and Asia; it is the consequences of their emergence which forms the final theme Louis emphasizes.

Taken together, these essays represent a formidable body of work on one of the key developments of modern times. Though some of the essays have been reworked, the basic scholarship within them remains as informative and insightful as it was when they were first published. Delving into the pages of this book provides insight not only into the demise of the British Empire, but into how it shaped and defined the world in which we live today. No student of British imperial history should be without this volume, and anyone interested in understanding the twentieth century will profit from reading it.

a must have for British historians5
The Ends of British Imperialism provides an excellent survey of how the British Empire rose to prominence in the 1800's and then began a decent after the second world war. This book is a collection of William Roger Louis lifetime essays and focus on different aspects of the process. William Roger Louis is one of the most respected scholar's on this area of British history and these essays are a treasure trove for anyone wanting to understand why the British Empire fell. The collapse of empire is often described as happening in four main events. The fall of Singapore, the independence of India, the Suez Crisis and the winds of change that granted independence to most of Africa. This book covers all of those areas but spends the bulk of the time on Suez and analyzing its importance in the fall of the empire. It is very well written although it can jump around at times due to the fact that it is a collection of essays and not a continuous book. Also for the historians out there it does have a decent summary of historiography in the last three chapters that really give the reader a good sense of what the general historic community has to say on this topic and for those wanting to read more it will be an invaluable guide to finding more books to read on the subject and what their arguments say. All in all a superb book and one that should be read!