Visions of Empire is a welcome addition tothe debate about British cultural imperialism.With the advent of ‘the global’, paying heedto ‘the local’ can add much to historicalunderstanding. A new history of empire isdeveloping which highlights the ambiguityand elasticity of popular imperialism. Beaven’swork advances this and presents aserious challenge to recent national and transnationalstudies of the cultural dispersal ofimperial ideas.