P.J. Cain is Emeritus Research Professor of History, Sheffield Hallam University.

A.G. Hopkins is Emeritus Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History, University of Cambridge and an Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College.

Foreword: The Continuing Debate on Empire. Part 1. 1. Introduction: 1688-1914. 1. The Problem and Context 2. Prospective: Aristocracy, Finance and Empire, 1688-1850 Part 2. The Gentlemanly Order: 1850-1914.. 3. 'Something Peculiar to England': The Service Sector, Wealth and Power, 1850-1914 4. Gentlmanly Capitalism and Economic Policy: City, Government and the 'National Interest', 1850-1914 5. 'The Great Emporium': Foreign Trade and Invisible Earnings, 1850-1914 6. Two Nations? Foreign Investment and the Domestic Economy. 1850-1914 7. Challenging Cosmopolitanism: The Tariff Problem and Imperial Unity, 1880-1914 Part 3. The Wider World: 1850-1914. 8. 'An Extension of the Old Society': Britain and the Colonies of Settlement, 1850-1914 9. Calling the New World into Existence: South America, 1815-1914 10. 'Meeting her Obligations to her English Creditors': India, 1858-1914 11. 'The Imperious and Irresistable Necessity': Britain and the Partition of Africa, 1882-1902 12. 'We Offer Ourselves as Supporters': The Ottoman Empire and Persia, 1838-1914 13. 'Maintaining the Credit-Worthiness of the Chinese Governmant': China, 1839-1911 Part 4. Redividing the World. 14. Britain, Germany and 'Imperialist' War, 1900-1914 15. Retrospect: 1688-1914 Part 5. The Empire in the Twentieth Century 16. The Imperialist Dynamic: From World War I to Decolonisation Part 6. The Gentlemanly Order, 1914-39. 17. 'The Power of Constant Renewal': Services, Finance and the Gentlemanly Elite, 1914-39 18. Industry, the City and the Decline of the International Economy, 1914-39 19. Upholding Gentlemanly Values: The American Challenge, 1914-31 20. 'A Latter-Day Expression of Finanial Imperialism': TheOrigins of the Sterling Area, 1931-39 Part 7. The Wider World, 1914-49 21. Maintaining Financial Discipline: The Dominions, 1914-39 22. 'A New Era of Colonial Ambitions': South America, 1914-39 23. 'Financial Stability and Good Government': India, 1914-47 24. 'Playing the Game' in Tropical Africa, 1914-40 25. 'The only Great Undeveloped Market in the World': China, 1911-49 Part 8. Losing an Empire and Finding a Role, 1939-2000 26. The City, the Sterling Area and Decolonisation 27. Conclusion: 1688-2000 Afterword:Empires and Globalization. Maps. Further Reading. Index.