Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-207) and index.
Introduction -- Imperial history and postcolonial theory -- The boundaries of Oxford's empire -- Imperial history and postcolonial studies revisited -- Exploration and empire -- The white man's world -- Debating the end of empire : exceptionalism and its critics -- On the American empire from a British imperial perspective -- The means and ends of empire -- The imperial history wars -- Epilogue : does British history matter anymore? : reflections on the age of Brexit and Trump