Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World Audiobook (Free)

Penguin presents the unabridged audiobook model of Empire by Niall Ferguson, read by Jonathan Keeble.

Once vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not only the waves, but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Precisely how did a small, rainy isle in the North Atlantic accomplish all this? And just why do the empire on which the sun actually never established finally decrease and fall? Niall Ferguson’s acclaimed Empire about Empire: How Britain Produced today’s world brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries, showing what sort of gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers planted the seed of the largest empire in all background – and established the world on the path to modernity.

‘The most brilliant British historian of his generation … Ferguson examines the tasks of “pirates, planters, missionaries, mandarins, bankers and bankrupts” in the creation of history’s largest empire … he writes with splendid panache … and a seemingly effortless, debonair wit’ Andrew Roberts

‘Dazzling … wonderfully readable’ New York Overview of Books

‘A extremely readable précis of the whole British imperial tale – triumphs, deceits, decencies, kindnesses, cruelties and all’ Jan Morris

‘Empire is a pleasure to read and brims with insights and intelligence’ Sunday Times