Empire
In this book Niall Ferguson argues that the British Empire should be regarded not merely as vanished Victoriana but as the very cradle of modernity. Nearly all the key features of the twenty-first-century world can be traced back to the extraordinary expansion of Britain's economy, population, and culture from the seventeenth century until the mid-twentieth--economic globalization, the communications revolution, the racial make-up of North America, the notion of humanitarianism, the nature of democracy. Ferguson shows that far from being a subject for nostalgia, the story of the Empire contains. Ferguson shows that far from being a subject for nostalgia, the story of the Empire contains lessons for the world today--in particular for the United States as it stands on the brink of a new kind of imperial power based once again on economic and military supremacy.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
3mentions
3people
2010–2021years
67% recommend33% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Niall-Ferguson/dp/0465023282
Solid author, genuine attempt objective history, the causes, the justifications, the sins, the benefits.
- Some nice insights but I think you downplayed the catalytic role the development of banking and finance had during the 18-19th century, in both Britain and the Netherlands.
e.g.: Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World -- N. Ferguson
- That seems to be a problems with Ferguson. His book, "Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power", was annoying in that he makes quite a few generalizations of more complex phenomenon. In it he comes off as pro-colonialist, but completely disregards the view from the colonized. Essentially he says that the British Empire was good because it gave everyone a common basis for the modern world. However, he completely ignores all the ills that empire created.
He is pretty renowned in the Historical circle, but that book put a bad taste in my mouth.
