Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire. by Niall Ferguson

I was first attracted to Ferguson when I read his book "The Pity of War", a politico-economical analysis of WW1, which contained many fresh ideas. He's not stopped writing, and this is his latest work. Ferguson is a believer in Liberal Empire. He shows that the economies of the British colonies were better than the independent states that followed them. As a non- or anti-imperialist, I have to say that his reasoning on this is absolutely correct; most colonies did not gain economically from independence. But then pro-independence politics was never about the economy, but about inequality, exploitation and dignity. It is very interesting to note that the more succesful colonies (Australia, New Zealand, Canada) were places where the indigenous populations were ignored or wiped out. This, in the final reconing, is the argument against imperialism: it is optional. The British Empire came to an end because the English were no longer interested.