Leviathan: The Rise of Britain as a World Power

Description

In this paperback of his acclaimed and wide-ranging study, David Scott challenges traditional assumptions about how Britain achieved her global might. Shortlisted for the Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature 2013 Navigating the 300 years between the Tudor accession and the loss of the American colonies Leviathan charts one of history's greatest transformations: the rise of Britain as the world's most formidable maritime power. From the chaos of the Wars of the Roses, Henry VIII's split with Rome and Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary regime, David Scott's masterly narrative explodes traditional assumptions to present a much darker interpretation of this extraordinary story. Powered by a rapidly growing navy, a rapacious merchant marine, resilient politics, bigotry and religious fanaticism, warmongering and slavery, this candid book is required reading for all those wishing to understand how Britain achieved her global might.

David Scott is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the History of Parliament Trust and has formerly taught at both York and Yale Universities. His previous book (for Palgrave) 'Politics and War in the Three Stuart Kingdoms 1637-49' was chosen by the Sunday Telegraph as one of its Books of the Year in 2004.

'Thoughtful, entertaining and elegantly written ... Amid the flood of new books on the making of the British Empire, 'Leviathan' stands out as one of the best' Sunday Times 'Brilliant ... Scott covers several hundred years, and yet the pace never flags. Much of Scott's picture is familiar from the existing literature but it has never before been put together as such a compelling ensemble. 'Leviathan' should be on every school and university booklist' Sunday Telegraph 'A sweeping and illuminating account of how English political tumult, economic progress and European overseas exploration drove Britain's emergence as an imperial power' Financial Times 'Epic in scale, shrewd in judgment, utterly convincing, 'Leviathan' demands the widest possible readership' Literary Review 'One of the best books on the rise of the British Empire' Sunday Times 'Magnificent ... Scott covers several hundred years and yet the pace never flags, and his pages are lit up with brilliant pen-portraits of the protagonists' Sunday Telegraph