This is a detailed, single volume analysis of Britain's changing position in the world during the twentieth century. It places British policy making in the appropriate domestic and international contexts, offers an alternative to the more negative, 'decline'-obsessed assessments of Britain's role and influence in global affairs. This book suggests that Britain's leaders did a better job than some historians think. Michael Turner, in order to understand why they took the options they did, investigates their motives and aims within the international environment within which they operated.

Author Biography

Michael J. Turner is the author of Independent Radicalism in Early Victorian Britain, Pitt the Younger and British Politics in the Age of Reform. He is Roy Carroll Distinguished Professor of British History at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.