Empires Apart: America and Russia from the Vikings to Iraq

Author, business executive and public servant Brian Landers

has an MBA from London Business School. Educated in the UK and US, he has lived in Europe, North America and South America. Having forsaken academia to become a political adviser in the City of London——where he was first introduced to the CIA——he went on to a career in British, American and Swedish multinationals. His directorships have included Penguin Books and Waterstone’s in the UK, Habitat in the UK and Spain, and MML, South Africa’s largest publisher. In addition he spent three years as a senior British civil servant, worked on charity programmes in various parts of the world including India, had spells with Pricewaterhouse consultancy, served as a trustee of the Royal Armouries and was inaugural deputy chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service. He is currently the treasurer of the UK section of Amnesty International and a member of the board of the UK Audit Commission. He has written on subjects as varied as quangos, Europe and House of Commons committees.

The American road to Baghdad started when the first English settlers landed in Virginia determined to impose their values on everyone they encountered. Simultaneously, the first Russians crossed the Urals and the two empires that would dominate the twentieth century were born. Empires Apart covers the history of the Americans and Russians from the Vikings to the present day. It shows the two empires developed in parallel as they expanded to the Pacific and launched wars against the nations around them. They both developed an imperial ''ideology'' that was central to the way they perceived themselves.

Then, in the period between the American Civil War and the Spanish—American War, the American ideology changed and the lust for new territory to conquer largely disappeared. It is argued that what caused this change was the advent of Big Business which set out to conquer the world in a different way. Soon after, the ideology of the Russian Empire also changed with the advent of Communism. The key argument of this book is that these changes did not alter the core imperial values of either nation. Both nations have shown that they are still willing to use military force and clandestine intrigue to enforce imperial control.

To support these arguments, it is necessary to strip away many preconceptions of popular history and this book uses numerous anecdotes to illustrate events as they really happened. The most pervasive preconception is that America has never been an ''imperial'' power. By simultaneously recounting the histories of the two nations this preconception is decisively dissolved, demonstrating the true nature of America''s global ambitions.

For those interested in revisiting orthodox history, Empires Apart is the definitive companion to geopolitics and post-cold war political strategies.

ISBN: 9780143068310
Author: Brian Landers
Published by: Penguin Books India
For more information, please visit www.indiabookmart.com