Books
The Victorian Empire
Denis Judd presents a brilliantly evocative account, in words and pictures, of this most magnificent of empires. At the end of Victoria's long reign, the British Empire reflected both the grandeur and the complexities of British power. The empire covered over a quarter of the world's land surface and contained a quarter of mankind. Its human and material resources surpassed those of ancient Rome and sixteenth-century Spain, just as they dwarfed those of the contemporary French, Dutch, and German empires.
Yet, in some respects, the empire was not British at all. barely 12 per cent of its citizens were European, let alone British. Its most commonly practised religions were Hinduism and Islam, not Christianity. The British flag, however, flew in every climate and on every continent. British influence and power excited both admiration and hatred - rarely indifference. Punjabi, Boer, Ibo, Malay, and Irishman found themselves subject to government from Whitehall, and Montreal, Melbourne, Mombasa, and Colombo were sister cities. While the txt incorporates the findings of the most recent scholarship, the abundant pictorial material is both nostalgic and realistic, revealing the broad sweep of history and its minutest contortions. The reader can see the sumptuous splendor of the Raj, the hardy pioneers in the outback, and the sharp-eyed marksmen in the veld. A vanished age is thus hauntingly recaptured.
Reviews
"Handsome and readable, well produced and lavishly illustrated."
- Sunday Times
"Immensely readable."
- Times Literary Supplement
"Judd presents a brilliantly evocative account, in words and striking pictures, of this most magnificent of Empires."
- London Evening News
"Judd is extraordinarily free from prejudice and bias. He paints the broad picture and presents the important facts simply and lucidly, disguising a wealth of knowledge under an easy readability."
- The Marquess of Anglesey, Sunday Telegraph