"Originally published in the U.K. in 2014 under the title Ten cities that made an empire, by Allen Lane, London."

This brief study analyzes the motives and processes of British empire building in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as the role that the American colonies played in that system. Professor Ubbelohde underscores the economic and strategic aspects of colonialism, and asserts that in spite of imperial policy, the American colonies eventually developed a substantial degree of local autonomy that became an integral part of their future national heritage.