The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century (Oxford History of the British ... Oxford University Press, USA, 2001 Volume III covers the long watershed of the nineteenth century, from the American independence of the 1780s to the eve of world war in 1914. This period saw Britain's greatest expansion as an empire-builder and a dominant world power. We begin with several thematic chapters--some are on Britain while others consider the empire's periphery--exploring the key dynamics of British expansion that ...             Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia35 reviews Karl Ernest Meyer, Shareen Blair Brysac Basic Books, 2006 Sweeping, Very Readable History The Redux of History - When everyone is dead, the Great Game is finished. Not Before - is neatly summed up in the introduction to this excellent and sweeping history of Central Asia. This work is well written,highly readable and sweeping in its coverage. It is a story of "preclusive security" as ...             A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (The New Cold War History)2 reviews Vladislav M. Zubok The University of North Carolina Press, 2007 An excellent book about Soviet leadership during the Cold War + Fine Book With Solid Scholarship Like Melvyn Leffler, Zubok believes that Soviet decision making was constrained by ideology and personality. Zubok writes that ideology formed the basis for Stalins decisions regarding Germany. Stalin thought that his proposals for a neutral Germany and socialism in Eastern Germany would be enough ...             Islamic Imperialism: A History33 reviews Efraim Karsh Yale University Press, 2007 Islamic Imperialism + Islamic Imperialism is REQUIRED reading Islamic Imperialism by Efraim Karsh is a sweeping history of Islamic imperialism from Muhammad to Osama bin Laden. The book shows how non-Muslims, and even Muslims, have been subjected to the ambitions of an endless stream of brutal tyrants who appealed to Muhammad as justification for their own ...             Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire (The New Cambridge History of India)1 review C. A. Bayly Cambridge University Press, 1990 A great historiography of how the British Empire formed out of the India This book covers the historiography of how Indian developed in the British Empire up through the Mutiny in 1857. The rise of British dominance in the Punjab as well as the surrounding countryside is broken up by category and analyzed through the relevant literature at the time. This book does a ...             Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World118 reviews Jack Weatherford Three Rivers Press, 2005 Genghis Kahn as you never knew him + No pleasure domes. + Genghis Khan, his empire, and Europe + Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World + Very Short Introduction to the Mongol Empire             The Roman Army: Legions, Wars and Campaigns: A Military History of the World's First Superpower From the Rise ...3 reviews Nigel Rodgers Southwater, 2005 Great stuff For the aficiendado who is interested in Rome, the legions and campaigns, the conquests, this is the best and newest book on the military aspects of Rome. Rome ruled an empire for almost 700 years and its legions were what made it successful, the decline of the legions and their replacement by ...             Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492-18307 reviews John H. Elliott Yale University Press, 2006 A essential addition to a great history + Very Good + Very informative!! + England and Spain in the Western Hemisphere + Engaging Comparative History             The Portuguese Empire, 1415-1808: A World on the Move5 reviews A. J. R. Russell-Wood The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998 Fascinating! + An illuminating record of global exploration + Portuguese worldwide impact + Fascinating and informative reading + Another Great Introduction             Dragon Lizards of Komodo: An Expedition to the Lost World of the Dutch East Indies1 review W. Douglas Burden Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2003 Fascinating travel and exploration writing This a nice reprint of a classic and desirable title in herpetology. Since the original hardound 1927 edition is rare and expensive, this paperback is a timely contribution. Burden's writing is engaging and takes us back to a nearly forgotten era when concepts of giant lizards were often ...             Under the Devils's Eye: Britain's Forgotten Army in Salonika 1915-1918 Alan Wakefield Sutton Publishing, 2004 The Devil's Eye' was the soldiers' name for the infamous Bulgarian observation post overlooking the British line at Doiran. The troops who fought in the Balkans, and especially the British contingent, became a forgotten army. The British Salonika Force landed in Greece in October 1915, to deter Bulgaria from joining the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, in attacking Serbia. The ...             Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the ...39 reviews William R. Polk Harper Perennial, 2006 Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi history + A good primer + Solid, brief history of Iraq + A Short, Concise, and Comprehensive Overview + Book of reality             Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal11 reviews Zachary Karabell Vintage, 2004 Very well-written, interesting + How it got built against the odds... + A political essay on the Suez Canal + Building the Canal             Empire of the Bay: The Company of Adventurers that Seized a Continent11 reviews Peter C. Newman Penguin (Non-Classics), 2000 Prince Rupert's Men + An incredible story + Incredible! + Phenomenal             Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire37 reviews David Remnick Vintage, 1994 IT'S A KNOCKOUT !! + Fascinating tour of the times leading up to and after the fall of the Soviet Union + Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. A Classic on the Unraveling of USSR + Great Book             Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India10 reviews Stanley Wolpert Oxford University Press, USA, 2006 Shameful Indeed!!! + The Jewel in the Crown + Another example of British thoughtfullness This is such a disturbing book because it throws light on the personalities involved, and what a bunch of utterly selfish, egotistical incompetent, racists/casteists buffoons, all of them, Dickie, Bapu, Chahcha, Sardar and Quaid-i-azam. These people should have been hanged instead they have these ...             The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956105 reviews Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2002 The nail in the coffin of the Soviet State + The single greatest literary work of the twentieth century. + A STYLISTIC ACHIEVEMENT ALSO + Well worth reading             Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire13 reviews Caroline Finkel Basic Books, 2006 Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire + A great resource for Ottoman history-it is large for a reason An excellent book. Very readable. A great way to compress six centuries of the great Ottoman Empire in a relatively short space. Finally the truth about Ottomans are emerging from the pens of eminent scholars, instead of garbage spewn by Armenians, Greeks, and some European powers that vied for ...             The Mongols (The Peoples of Europe)6 reviews David Morgan Wiley-Blackwell, 2007 Excellent introduction to an obscure people + An interesting read... + The Rise and Fall of the Mongol Empire + Sober Evaluation of the Mongols + Morgan is the one of the Best             The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj9 reviews David Gilmour Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007 There's A Rat In My Bed + Good Passages of India + Interesting read on ICS officers + Interesting perspectives on the Raj