A Review By Keith Smith

I must say I really enjoyed this book, but then who wouldn’t enjoy Jeremy Paxman in full flow! He certainly doesn’t answer the question, makes very little attempt to do so, but what he does do is give us a very lively, sardonic, amusing potted history of the British Empire which never flags and gives us some highly intriguing sometimes hilarious anecdotes . It’s not exactly a balanced account…he errs on the very critical side…but he does give acknowledgement from time to time of the many high-minded aspects of colonial expansion and control, the abolition of the slave trade, the work of the Evangelists, the ethos of responsibility and fair play that underlay the life of many a District Officer. We learn very little of the Empire now in our schools, and it is perhaps regarded as politically incorrect to even mention it….in my opinion that is very very shortsighted indeed. It’s about time we took notice of all our past, good and bad. You can never read too much History..it holds lessons for us all!

Highly recommended.