Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10753 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-18
• Binding: Hardcover
• 640 pages

Independent
'Brendon brings his own sharp eye to the debate... This is a real achievement and an important one'

Literary Review
'Quite simply, a masterpiece of historical narrative'

Scotland on Sunday
'Brendon with an acute eye for detail...serves up a veritable gorefest in which all sides slake their lusts'

Customer Reviews

Excellent
Absorbing and comprehensive account of the decline of the British Empire.
No library should be without it.

The Decline, Fall and Condemnation of the British Empire
Piers Brendon has certainly put an awful lot of scholarship, time and effort into this weighty, well-written, near-humourless deconstruction of a large section of British history, but unfortunately this feels like the work of a sniggering little modern mind. It has been the fashion for some time now ('political correctness' is such a boring cliche) to pull apart, criticize and pour scorn on so much of Britain's past and and so many of its heroes. Mr Brendon leaves no stone unthrown. I see the newspaper reviewers all give it the nod of approval - what a lot of sheep! His next book might well be subtitled, The Victims of the British Empire. One just wonders where the money came from to finance this acidic view of Britain's withdrawal from overstretched rule. Contrast the Empire with the Britain of today, falling apart at the seams! However, the book is certainly well worth reading for its scholarly detail, complete with resident devil.