Westerners have a tendency when they think of the Imperial Era (if they think of it at all) as a thing that happened, but we're not quite sure how or why . Some greedy people somewhere in Europe, probably, and we should feel a bit bad about it. Niall Ferguson, Satan love him, is willing to dog a bit deeper. Which is nice, but for the fact that he largely shares the perspective of the Imperialists. His book has some really fascinating anecdotes or perspectives ("The British Empire was founded on a sugar high" or the glorious insanity of the British government in India being carried on elephants from Calcutta to the foothills of the Himalayas where they built a little village straight out of the Midlands), but gives only pat answers to the grave sins of colonialism and thinks that the age produced a pretty huge net benefit for humanity. I...could not disagree more strongly. The introduction of legalism, some form of democracy, and property rights does not make up for things like the slave trade, plantation systems around the globe, colonial conquest, piracy, and genocide. I'd say this is worth reading if you want a reminder of why we live in a post-colonial world (sort of).