Understanding the British Empire by Ronald Hyam

(Cambridge University Press), 2010

552pp., £24.99 paper, ISBN 0-978-521-13290-9

Ronald Hyam is a highly regarded imperial historian whose work over the last thirty years has been at the forefront of innovative thinking about the subject.  Divided into six main themes, the geopolitical and economic dynamics of empire, religion and ethics, imperial bureaucracy, political leaders, sexuality and the shaping of imperial historiography, the eighteen essays in this collection provide an important and eminently useful addition to the study of Britain's empire.  What is especially valuable is the introductory chapter in which Hyam places the essays in their wider framework.  Some of the essays are new; others revised versions of earlier papers reflecting on the debates raised by the author's work including the issue of sexual exploitation (a ‘pioneering and contentious historian of sex'). 

There is also a useful list of his publications that shows where the essays fit into his historical evolution.   This is an important collection of essays, scholarly, combative and witty and they should find a ready audience among teachers and students who want to understand the significance of the Empire to Britain's development and demise as a world power.