Imperial Endgame / Britain and the World (PDF)

BENJAMIN GROB-FITZGIBBON is Assistant Professor of History, Cleveland C. Burton Professor of International Programs, and Associate Director of the International Relations Program at the University of Arkansas, USA. Born in the north of England in 1979, he received his doctorate from Duke University in 2006. His first book, The Irish Experience during the Second World War, was published in 2004. His second book, Turning Points of the Irish Revolution, in 2007. He has previously taught at Duke University and North Carolina State University.

'Grob-Fitzgibbon challenges the popular view that Britain shed its empire politely, like a tea party at the vicarage in an Agatha Christie mystery. He makes it clear that the reality was very different. Withdrawal from empire was difficult, dangerous and dirty and the politicians, diplomats, soldiers and policemen who brought empire to an end did so in a way not brought out as powerfully and persuasively before. For anyone worried about how things might end in Iraq or Afghanistan, Grob-Fitzgibbon's excellent, dispassionate, forensic analysis will make uncomfortable but illuminating reading.'

- Colonel Alex Alderson, MBE, Director of the United Kingdom Counterinsurgency Centre

'Imperial Endgame is a controversial and important book. Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon has no time for conventional pieties. Junking the tired story of disarray and humiliation, he shows how Britain ruthlessly disposed of the Empire on its own unsentimental terms. This strategy often involved dirty tactics and dirty wars but the objective was clear: to keep newly-independent states within Britain's sphere of influence.It's abold re-telling of the decolonisation story, pulledoff with great style and panache.'

- Richard Aldous, author of The Lion and the Unicorn, and Eugene Meyer Professor of British History and Literature at Bard College, New York, USA

'The end of the British Empire was characterized not only by relatively smooth transitions to independence but also by the winning of independence by violent means of insurgency. Imperial Endgame is an excellent history of the British counter-insurgency campaigns marking the end of colonial rule, above all in Palestine, Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, and Aden. '

- Wm. Roger Louis, University of Texas at Austin, USA

'Comprehensive and well-handled study' - English Historical Review

'...a very good, detailed account from a high politics and strategy viewpoint...One of the most valuable aspects of