The Rise and Fall of the British Empire

James, Lawrence. The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. $21.95.

I bought this book while researching for a paper for my Christianity in the Enlightenment class (the paper was very successful and was read before the editorial board of BaptistTheology.org). The book includes a terrific chapter on the early Raj, or British government of India, which was very useful for the paper. However, after finishing the paper and my other class work, and graduating, I chose to come back to this book as my first post-seminary read.

James' goal in writing was to present the British Empire as it developed and not merely as it is seen today, in hindsight. This is important because, as he says, "History cannot be unwritten or written in the subjunctive." So often today, history studies are about what should have been, based upon our current values, and not what really was. This aspect provides James' book with a balance and reality that sometimes was difficult to read but, I believe, hit very close to the truth.

James does an excellent job of showing the effects, other at odds with one another, of empire on the people of Britain. The Empire bred a certain superiority complex among the British that lent itself to racism and an overbearing political propensity to interfere where unwanted. The Empire simultaneously helped cause the development of evangelical missionary efforts, liberal political trends toward democracy in Britain and elsewhere, and a rise in efforts to provide social justice. James does a great job of laying out all of this evidence but allowing the reader to weigh it and come to his/her own conclusions about the British Empire.

As a historian interested in military events, this book was often disappointing to me. James is not writing about the battles and wars of the Empire but about the political/economic developments that brought them about. This should appeal to many others not interested in the military side.

All in all, the book was a very good read. It does not get bogged down by the two world wars, like most such books do. James is a good writer, in addition to making good choices about what to concentrate upon. I would strongly suggest it for anyone interested in world history over the past 400 years and especially for those whose interest has been piqued by the current claims and counter-claims concerning American imperialism.