Through his teaching in the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, Jack Gallagher was a major influence on a generation of students of empire. His re-interpretation of the nature of British imperialism, most notably in Africa and the Victorians (written with Ronald Robinson) stimulated much debate. His pupil and colleague Anil Seal has edited for this volume a group of Professor Gallagher’s major essays: the unpublished Ford Lectures on the British Empire, and related papers on Africa, India and imperialism. The collection will be welcomed by all concerned with the history of empire throughout what Gallagher saw as its decline, its subsequent rise and its eventual administrative fall.