John Darwin teaches Imperial and Global History at Oxford where he is a Fellow of Nuffield College. His previous publications include After Tamerlane: The Global History of Empire since 1400 (winner of the Wolfson History Prize for 2007), The End of the British Empire: The Historical Debate (1991) and Britain and Decolonization: The Retreat from Empire in the Post-War World (1988).

• Introduction: the project of an Empire; Part I. Towards 'The Sceptre of the World': The Elements of Empire in the Long Nineteenth Century: 1. Victorian origins; 2. The octopus power; 3. The commercial republic; 4. The Britannic experiment; 5. 'Un-British rule' in 'Anglo-India'; 6. The weakest link: Britain and South Africa; 7. The Edwardian transition; Part II. 'The Great Liner is Sinking': The British World-System in the Age of War: 8. The War for Empire, 1914–19; 9. Making imperial peace, 1919–26; 10. Holding the centre, 1927–37; 11. The strategic abyss, 1937–42; 12. The price of survival, 1943–51; 13. The third world power, 1951–9; 14. Reluctant retreat, 1959–68; Conclusion.

'… a tour de force. Never before have the dynamics of the British Empire been analysed with such deep knowledge and penetrating insight.' Piers Brendon, author of The Decline and Fall of the British Empire