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This is a highly compressed history of 300 or so years of British imperialism. It isn't pretty, much of it. The Mutiny, 1857, the Boer War, 1900, Amritsar Massacre, 1919, are gone into with some thoroughness. What I missed was Ferguson's facility with statistics. His manipulation of them made The Pity of War a fascinating read. Empire is by an large straight narrative with little statistical support until we arrive in the 20th century, at which point the author reverts to form. The narrative was satisfying to me in that it gave me a snapshot of the entire breadth of the British imperial high jinks. I think the "implications for the US" aspect of the book is actually quite weak and was oversold by the publishers. There isn't much of that really, save for the occasional facile comparison. What was interesting, however, was Ferguson's description of how the dissolution of the Empire was one of the precursors to American participation in World War II. It makes sense. How could the USA fight with Britain to save its empire when its aim was that everyone else (Germany, Italy, Japan) had to give up theirs? Roosevelt and his minions were actually anti-imperial. The Brits, especially Churchill, pointed out the hypocrisy here, and the complaints had merit, if questionable relevance, given the comparitive geographic quantities and historic durations involved. Recommended survey text for general readers.