Tells the story of Britain's scramble to world power in the 18th century and how, through hubris and incompetence, it lost almost everything it had gained.

Brendan Simms is Professor of the History of International Relations at the University of Cambridge. His major books include Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia (shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize), Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present, and Hitler: Only the World Was Enough.