The British Empire: an enduring fascination * Justifying British imperialism: the changing rationale of the empire builders * Capitalism's critics and defenders: early twentieth century economic explanations of Victorian British imperial expansion * Metropole, periphery and informal empire: the Gallagher and Robinson controversy of the 1950s and after * Cultural explanations of British imperialism I: post colonial theory and its critics * Cultural explanations of British imperialism II: religion, race, gender and class * The metropole strikes back: the new debate about gentlemanly capitalism and empire 1980-2004 * The future of Britain's imperial history? * Further reading The British Empire: an enduring fascination * Justifying British imperialism: the changing rationale of the empire builders * Capitalism's critics and defenders: early twentieth century economic explanations of Victorian British imperial expansion * Metropole, periphery and informal empire: the Gallagher and Robinson controversy of the 1950s and after * Cultural explanations of British imperialism I: post colonial theory and its critics * Cultural explanations of British imperialism II: religion, race, gender and class * The metropole strikes back: the new debate about gentlemanly capitalism and empire 1980-2004 * The future of Britain's imperial history? * Further reading.