empire niall ferguson goodreads
What I missed was Ferguson's facility with statistics. My "four stars" here reflects Ferguson's book being an entertaining review of the Empire for the general reader and not having any obvious signs of bias, although given this is the first book I have read about the British Empire I don't have much else to judge it against and "being entertaining" is a pretty shallow criteria to assess a history on a subject as potentially controversial as the British Empire. The statement is: "By the end of Britain's colonisation in 1830, at least two families of Aborigines were living on the Island. ... Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations: IMDb Movies, TV & … Su moneda era sólida. Ferguson finds positive value in the Colonialism of the British Empire and has been attacked for this position. He is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and the William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Read 792 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. The British Empire was the largest in all history: the nearest thing to world domination ever achieved. He poses a question in the beginning of the book :"how did this small rainy island succeed in conquering the world,"he does a good job in explaing the how and the why and the where, nevertheless, for those looking for a more detailed and thorough explanation and comparison of the British settlement/conquer tactics and growth versus the competing european "empires" of the time (i.e. For one thing, I learned about a number of aspects of the British Empire that I had not known before - as an American, learning about this aspect of history was not required reading beyond knowing about the American Revolution. [1]" From the Empire's humble origins of pirates and plantations to the Wars that bankrupted left it bankrupt, Ferguson brings the reader to all corners of the Empire, leaving no sun-lit stone untouched. A reasonable point to make when one considers how poor policies in Iraq nearly screwed the U.S. over internationally as well as domestically (read Thomas Ricks' "Fiasco" for details). This is an interesting book, to be sure, but nowhere near Ferguson's best. Lawrence, and many others. The Scottish historian Niall Ferguson is, in some ways, the Russell Crowe of the academic world: charismatic, unconventional, and definitely controversial. This is a highly compressed history of 300 or so years of British imperialism. But I was completely wrong. thanks, The British Empire was the largest in all history, its reach the nearest thing to world domination ever achieved. by Penguin Books, Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World. Su sistema impositivo basado en los impuestos internos era simple y eficaz.”, “En la práctica el dinero invertido en una colonia de iure como la India (o en una colonia en todo sentido, excepto el nombre como Egipto) era mucho más seguro que invertir en una colonia de facto como Argentina.”, “También explica por qué Gran Bretaña pudo superar a sus rivales ibéricos: precisamente porque, por ser una recién llegada a la carrera imperial, tuvo que dedicarse a colonizar los pocos prometedores páramos de Virginia y Nueva Inglaterra, antes que las ciudades de México y Perú, donde el saqueo estaba a la orden del día.”, “El historiador económico David Landes ha elaborado recientemente una lista de medidas que el gobierno ideal tendría que adoptar para el crecimiento y desarrollo: 1. aseguraría los derechos de la propiedad privada del mejor modo posible para alentar el ahorro y la inversión; 2. aseguraría los derechos de libertad individual… tanto contra los abusos de la tiranía como… del crimen y la corrupción; 3. haría cumplir el derecho contractual… 4. proporcionaría un gobierno estable… guiado por normas de dominio público; 5. proporcionaría un gobierno receptivo; 6. proporcionaría un gobierno honrado… [no] hipotecado a los favores y a la posición; 7. proporcionaría un gobierno moderado, eficiente, poco ambicioso… que rebajara los impuestos [y] redujera lo asignado al gobierno en el excedente social.”, “The reality, then, was that Indian nationalism was fuelled not by the impoverishment of the many but by the rejection of the privileged few.”, “aunque el liberalismo económico y político anglófono sigue siendo las más atractiva cultura del mundo, tiene el reto de hacer frente, como ha ocurrido desde la revolución iraní, a una seria amenaza procedente del fundamentalismo islámico.”, “Africa is in fact a more Christian continent than Europe. I'm not kidding, there's absolutely nothing new here, other than a layer of polish. Wednesday 03 July 2013 03:43. I listened to an audio version of this (superbly read by Sean Barrett) with great fascination. The apologist tone of this book just got worse and worse, with Ferguson basically arguing that although the Empire was bad, it wasn't THAT bad, which in my opinion is no argument at all. $3.99 shipping. The British empire was not by smart design but an ad hoc concoction of trading outposts and colonies that evolved to a centrally ruled, geographically dispersed entity under the crown. Earlier this year, I read (and reviewed on this site) a nasty piece of work called, This was an absolutely wonderful read! Ostensibly, it is a book about what post-Cold War America, a hegemon with immense global power and influence, can learn from the British Empire at its apex. Did not that sacrifice alone expunge all the Empire’s other sins?”, “The question was simply this: Would the world be French or British?”, “Hitler had no doubt that it was rival empires, not native nationalism, which posed the real challenge to British rule.”, “En 1863, en Newcastle, el doctor James Hunt había dejado consternada a la audiencia de una reunión de la British Association for the Advancement of Science, al afirmar que los «negros» eran una especie separada de seres humanos, a medio camino entre el mono y el «hombre europeo».”, “Considerations on Representative Government (1861) – that they enjoy the benefits of her uniquely advanced culture: first, a better government: more complete security of property; moderate taxes; a more permanent ... tenure of land. Niall Ferguson at his best, condensing four centuries or so in a readable book. He is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. ... Beijing. The time is ripe for a reappraisal.In this major new work of synthesis and revision, Niall Ferguson argues that the British Empire should be regarded not merely as vanished Victoriana but as the very cradle of modernity. An Englishman, Ferguson tackles the history of the British Empire in this layman's volume of 370 pages, rich with illustrations, maps, and photos stretching from empire's reluctant beginnings in the 17th century to the final collapse following WWII. It is an empire in denial.”, “I, the British Empire began as a primarily economic phenomenon, its growth powered by commerce and consumerism. How can you be impartial about such a shoddy, smug polemic? Niall Ferguson is a glutton for exposure. While he is right about the cricket he is nuts if he thinks empire was a force for good, it has made Britain a few enemi. “American Empire- it is an empire that lacks the drive to export its capital, its people and its culture to those backward regions which need them most urgently and which, if they are neglected, will breed the greatest threats to its security. "Empire" has an excellent conclusion and some interesting analysis, but Niall Ferguson taints what could have been a brilliant work with strange forays into homophobia, rhetorical arguments that undermine his authority and an apologist attitude towards British rule that occasionally (and thankfully only occasionally) enters the realm of the absurd. Niall praises that the British were the ones to control the world for a period arguing that anyone else (especially an eastern empire) would not have done as good a job as the British in "spreading liberty" throughout the world. View all copies ... "The United States today is an empire--but a peculiar kind of empire", writes Niall Ferguson in Colossus: the Price of America's Empire. Did not that sacrifice alone expunge all the Empire's other sins?”, “Between a half and two-thirds of all Europeans who migrated to North America between 1650 and 1780 did so under contracts of indentured servitude;”, “Sir Richard Turnbull, the penultimate Governor of Aden, once told Labour politician Denis Healey that 'when the British Empire finally sank beneath the waves of history, it would leave behind it only two monuments: one was the game of Association Football, the other was the expression "Fuck off".' For me this was a great crash course on the growth and the achievements of the British empire written by N.Ferguson, which i thoroughly enjoyed! Ferguson's most revolutionary and popular work, EMPIRE is a major reinterpretation of the British Empire as one of the world's greatest modernising forces. Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. They were living in a white sealing village near the Bass Strait, hiding from British authorities. Every once in awhile I try and give the political right a fair hearing by reading something of a conservative writer. The latter is the history for the former's political science. Ferguson is a terrific storyteller and his narrative has scarcely a dull sentence. It wasn't all news to me but much of it is an eye opener and gives serious pause for thought. Though the book's breadth is impressive, it is not intended to be a comprehensive history of the British Empire; rather, Ferguson seeks to glean lessons from this history for future, or present, empires--namely America. Which might ultimately be the desired end of such a book. Ferguson takes a bold step; he argues that the British Empire was a force for good, and does so in unbiased and balanced way. And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? But I was completely wrong. It is an empire in denial.”, “I, the British Empire began as a primarily economic phenomenon, its growth powered by commerce and consumerism. Discover lots of new and upcoming nonfiction reads this spring Can someone clarify this for me? It's no' right. Introduction Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire by Niall Ferguson is a book that most Americans, conservative or liberal, probably don’t want to read or inherently disagree with. Small countries are often formed as a result of civil war within an earlier multi-ethnic polity – the most common form of conflict since 1945. For example, he rates the British leadership over India as an overall positive thing, without which India would not have quickly risen to the heights it has obtained today, in fact, it may have easily fallen victim to the Japanese empire of WWII. The United States, Ferguson reveals, is an empire running on empty, weakened by chronic defecits of money, manpower and political will. Niall Ferguson at his best, condensing four centuries or so in a readable book. 3.9 (6,949 ratings by Goodreads) Paperback. I learned the most from the final chapter, "Empire for Sale" which gave some of the most interesting information on how Great Britain lost its' Empire because of the World Wars. They were IMERIAL IMMITATORS!”, I'm reading something that refers to pp109-111 that I'd like to check. All Quotes To see what your friends thought of this book. Habían fundado una institución parecida a un banco central moderno. Get the key ideas from Empire How Britain Made the Modern World By Niall Ferguson 16-minute read Audio available Read for free today only Start free trial to read Read now Upgrade now to read. Every one of his assertions could easily be countered, a fact he often admits. Niall has two great qualities for a history writer that endears him to this layperson - the ability to write history in a witty, conversational fashion, and a penchant for promoting alternative conclusions for historical events. Habían creado un sistema de deuda pública que permitía al gobierno tomar empréstitos de sus ciudadanos a un tipo de interés bajo. And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Such writing certainly brings out my political biases. He is a Scottish historian. ... Benedetto Cotrugli – The Book of the Art of Trade: With Scholarly Essays from Niall Ferguson, Giovanni Favero, Mario Infelise, Tiziano Zanato and Vera Ribaudo. Niall Ferguson's acclaimed Empire brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries, showing how a gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers planted the seed of the biggest empire in all history - and set the world on the road to modernity. The book is organized by major periods during the Empire but comes alive through the accounts of familiar faces from world history: John Smith, Orwell. English. I suppose I was naive to expect. There were a few nit-picky issues I have with him, but I feel that this is great book that makes a far better case for, weird as it may sound, a Liberal American empire than his sequel to this book does. He is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and the William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at … Also, rather than avoid the empire's darker incidents, he uses them as evidence that when the British did bad things, bad things happened not just to the native people (tragic enough as that is), but to the empire as a whole. Welcome back. In this fascinating reimagining of how the Brits pressed their culture, religion and ideas across the land, he explores what they did right, as well as what they did wrong. Empire by Niall Ferguson (2003-04-02) by Niall Ferguson 4.0 out of 5 stars 1. In Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, Niall Ferguson gives a more or less complete history of the British Empire and discusses why it was a good thing for the world. What can I say? Niall Ferguson is a béte noire of liberals, having garnered a reputation for conservative, right-wing, even odious views. When Ferguson started this book by acknowledging his positionality as a child who was brought up to love the Empire, and only later understood the horrors that came with it, I wrongly assumed that he might have been able to break out of that pro-Empire point of view. Publisher: Penguin Group, 2009. In the conclusion Ferguson examines the major lessons of that the Empire can teach Britons as well as Americans who live in "an empire of denial." But this is not a jingoistic or details-oriented book. A thoughtful Indian historian has compared Fergusson's argument that India should be grateful for Britain colonizing it with a thief stealing your wallet and you having to be greatfull to be forced to make money. Niall Ferguson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, former Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and current senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and founder and managing director of advisory firm Greenmantle LLC. Despite overwhelming military, economic and cultural dominance, the US has had a … Let me read and research the period even more before any attempt at a conclusion. Once vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not just the waves, but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. For anyone looking for an overview of the British Empire that can keep the interest of the average reader while remaining intellectual and on course, Ferguson's Empire delivers. 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