This wide-ranging and ambitious work begins from, but moves well beyond, the common observation that empire had a significant role in the making of modern Britain. Thompson weighs the relevant evidence from elites to the working classes, from women and children to international economics and domestic politics. In so doing he treats an enormous body of material with judicious insight. This book helps to bridge all-too divided hemispheres of the historical mind. It deserves close attention by specialist scholars as well as a prominent place on student reading lists.'Saul Dubow, Sussex University''This is a fine piece of work: perhaps the best book so far in its field. It will surely be seen as an essential undergraduate text in many British and Imperial History courses, and in some sub-fields of Politics, Sociology and Cultural Studies too.''Stephen Howe