Triple bill of thrillers. In 'Catch .44' (2011) Tes (Malin Åkerman), Kara (Nikki Reed) and Dawn (Deborah Ann Woll) are three women with guns who are working for crime boss Mel (Bruce Willis). When they find themselves the victims in a double-crossing drug deal that turns out to be more of a set-up than a heist gone wrong, they set out to get their revenge. Forest Whitaker and Brad Dourif co-star. 'Switch' (2011) is a French-language thriller in which a woman's attempts to spice up her life through switching apartments goes disastrously wrong. Sophie Malaterre (Karine Vanasse), a Montreal fashion designer, initially enjoys swapping apartments with a French woman she met over the internet, Bénédicte Serteaux (Karina Testa). Sophie's first day in Paris is like a dream - but her second is a nightmare. She is awoken by the police, led by Detective Forgeat (Eric Cantona), who have discovered a dead body in the duplex, and seem unable to distinguish Sophie from Bénédicte... 'Hijacked' (2012) stars Randy Couture, Dominic Purcell and Vinnie Jones. Paul Ross (Couture), a grizzled government agent, has been investigating an influential crime organisation known as The Tribe for a number of years. Just when he begins to feel that he is making progress with the investigation his personal and professional interests interconnect. When a private jet carrying a wealthy businessman and Ross' former fiancée, Olivia (Tiffany Dupont), is hijacked by The Tribe, Ross is the only government agent on the scene. How will he cope?

The aim of Bengal:The British Bridgehead is to explain how, in the eighteenth century, Britain established her rule in eastern India, the first part of the sub-continent to be incorporated into the British Empire. Professor Marshall begins his analysis with the reign of Alivardi Khan, the last effective Mughal ruler of eastern India. He then explores the social, cultural, and economic ihanges that followed the imposition of foreign rule and seeks to assess the consequences for the peoples of the region; emphasis is given throughout as much to continuities rooted deep in the history of Bengal, as to the more obvious effects of British domination. The volume closes with British rule firmly established, the arrival of Lord William Bentinck, and the failure of the great Agency Houses.

This book, first published in 1968, is a study of the impact made on Britain by the conquest of large parts of India in the second half of the eighteenth century. The sudden success of the East India Company in subjugating a vast population with a sophisticated civilization created problems of an unprecedented kind for Britain. It raised in an acute form questions about the scope and limits of state action, the rights of chartered bodies, the duties of conquerors to subject peoples, the appropriateness of exporting western ideals and concepts of law and government to Asia, and the manner in which the resources of the East could best contribute to Britain's power and wealth. These and similar topics were discussed at length in Parliament, the press, books and pamphlets, and in the correspondence of private individuals. A selection of this material, drawing on a wide and varied range of printed and manuscript sources, has been made to illustrate the arguments used in this debate and the manner in which solutions to some of the problems were gradually worked out over a period of more than fifty years. By 1813, after much trial and error, the outline of the political, administrative and economic links which were to bind India to Britain for much of the nineteenth century are already visible.

This volume continues the story of Burke and the affairs of the East India Company which was begun in Volume V (OUP 1981, #70.00, 0-19-822417-6). By 1786, Burke had fixed on Warren Hastings as the main culprit for the abuses that seemed to him so glaring. He greeted Hastings's return to Britain with a parliamentary attack which culminated in a trial by impeachment in the House of Lords. This was to be one of Burke's major preoccupations for the rest of his life. The material presented in this volume covers two years of proceedings in the House of Commons and the first session of the trial in the Lords. Its highlights are two great set-piece speeches delivered to the Commons, which can be reconstructed from manuscript material as well as from contemporary reports; and the four-day oration with which Burke opened the prosecution before the Lords: for this a complete verbatim shorthand record exists. The material in these and other speeches is not only central to an understanding of Burke and India, but to his moral and political thought as a whole in the years immediately before the outbreak of the French Revolution.

This book, first published in 1968, is a study of the impact made on Britain by the conquest of large parts of India in the second half of the eighteenth century. The sudden success of the East India Company in subjugating a vast population with a sophisticated civilization created problems of an unprecedented kind for Britain. It raised in an acute form questions about the scope and limits of state action, the rights of chartered bodies, the duties of conquerors to subject peoples, the appropriateness of exporting western ideals and concepts of law and government to Asia, and the manner in which the resources of the East could best contribute to Britain's power and wealth. These and similar topics were discussed at length in Parliament, the press, books and pamphlets, and in the correspondence of private individuals. A selection of this material, drawing on a wide and varied range of printed and manuscript sources, has been made to illustrate the arguments used in this debate and the manner in which solutions to some of the problems were gradually worked out over a period of more than fifty years. By 1813, after much trial and error, the outline of the political, administrative and economic links which were to bind India to Britain for much of the nineteenth century are already visible.

The present collection brings together a series of studies by Peter Marshall on British imperial expansion in the later 18th century. Some essays focus on the thirteen North American colonies, the West Indies, and British contact with China; those dealing specifically with India have appeared in the author's 'Trade and Conquest: Studies on the rise of British domination in India'. The majority, culminating in the four addresses on 'Britain and the World in the Eighteenth Century' delivered as President of the Royal Historical Society, deal with the processes and dynamics of empire-building and aim to bring together the history of Asia and the Atlantic. The themes investigated include the pressures that induced Britain to pursue new imperial strategies from the mid-18th century, Britain's contrasting fortunes in India and North America, and the way in which the British adjusted their conceptions of empire from one based on freedom and the domination of the seas, to one which involved the exercise of autocratic rule over millions of people and great expanses of territory.

A scholarly edition of the writings and speeches of Edmund Burke. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus.

In The Making and Unmaking of Empires P. J. Marshall, distinguished author of numerous books on the British Empire and former Rhodes Professor of Imperial History, provides a unified interpretation of British imperial history in the later eighteenth century. He brings together into a common focus Britain's loss of empire in North America and the winning of territorial dominion in parts of India and argues that these developments were part of a single phase of Britain's imperial history, rather than marking the closing of a 'first' Atlantic empire and the rise of a 'second' eastern one. In both India and North America Britain pursued similar objectives in this period. Fearful of the apparent enmity of France, Britain sought to secure the interests overseas which were thought to contribute so much to her wealth and power. This involved imposing a greater degree of control over colonies in America and over the East India Company and its new possessions in India. Aspirations to greater control also reflected an increasing confidence in Britain's capacity to regulate the affairs of subject peoples, especially through parliament. If British objectives throughout the world were generally similar, whether they could be achieved depended on the support or at least acquiescence of those they tried to rule. Much of this book is concerned with bringing together the findings of the rich historical writing on both post-Mughal India and late colonial America to assess the strengths and weaknesses of empire in different parts of the world. In North America potential allies who were closely linked to Britain in beliefs, culture and economic interest were ultimately alienated by Britain's political pretensions. Empire was extremely fragile in two out of the three main Indian settlements. In Bengal, however, the British achieved a modus vivendi with important groups which enabled them to build a secure base for the future subjugation of the subcontinent. With the authority of one who has made the study of empire his life's work, Marshall provides a valuable resource for scholar and student alike.

This volume completes the widely acclaimed collection of Edmund Burke's Indian Writings and Speeches set within the series as a whole, as included in the two previous volumes V and VI. It provides a full exposition of Burke's views on India, including speeches and a report made by Burke at the trial of Warren Hastings on an impeachment from 1789-1794. It contains much of Burke's thoughts on other issues, in particular his views on enforcing the rule of justice throughout the world.

One of the incidental consequences of the success of British arms in eighteenth-century India was the appearance of a number of publications which reflect the intense curiosity of contemporary Europeans about strange peoples, their manners and religions. Of the three principal religions of India, Hinduism attracted the most attention. European contact with Islam was several centuries old, while few travellers could identify Buddhism with any certainty. This book reprints some of the most significant English contributions to the early European understanding of Hinduism.

The aim of Bengal: The British Bridgehead is to explain how, in the eighteenth century, Britain established her rule in eastern India, the first part of the subcontinent to be incorporated into the British Empire. Though the British were not in firm control of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa until 1765, to illustrate the circumstances in which they gained power and elucidate the Indian inheritance that so powerfully shaped the early years of their rule, professor Marshall begins his analysis around 1740 with the reign of Alivardi Khan, the last effective Mughal ruler of eastern India. He then explores the social, cultural and economic changes that followed the imposition of foreign rule and seeks to assess the consequences for the peoples of the region; emphasis is given throughout as much to continuities rooted deep in the history of Bengal as to the more obvious effects of British domination. The volume closes in the 1820s when, with British rule firmly established, a new pattern of cultural and economic relations was developing between Britain and eastern India.

Remaking the British Atlantic focuses on a crucial phase in the history of British-American relations: the first ten years of American Independence. These set the pattern for some years to come. On the one hand, there was to be no effective political rapprochement after rebellion and war. Mainstream British opinion was little influenced by the failure to subdue the revolt or by the emergence of a new America, for which they mostly felt distain. What were taken to be the virtues of the British constitution were confidently reasserted and there was little inclination either to disengage from empire or to manage it in different ways, as is shown in chapters dealing with Britain's continuing imperial commitments around the Atlantic. For their part, many Americans defined the new order that they were seeking to establish by their rejection of what they took to be the abuses of contemporary Britain. On the other hand, neither the trauma of war nor the failure to create harmonious political relations could prevent the re-establishment of the very close links that had spanned the pre-war Atlantic, locking people on both sides of it into close connections with one another. Many British migrants still went to America. Britain remained America's dominant trading partner. American tastes and the intellectual life of the new republic continued to be largely reflections of British tastes and ideas. America and Britain were too important for too many people in too many ways for political alienation to keep them apart.

Edmund Burke was both a political thinker of the utmost importance and an active participant in the day-to-day business of politics. It is the latter role that is the concern of this book, showing Burke engaging with issues concerning the West Indies, which featured so largely in British concerns in the later eighteenth century. Initially, Burke saw the islands as a means by which his close connections might make their fortunes, later he was concerned with them as a great asset to be managed in the national interest, and, finally, he became a participant in debates about the slave trade. This volume adds a new dimension to assessments of Burke's views on empire, hitherto largely confined to Ireland, India, and America, and explores the complexities of his response to slavery. The system outraged his abundantly attested concern for the suffering caused by abuses of British power overseas, but one which he also recognised to be fundamental for sustaining the wealth generated by the West Indies, which he deemed essential to Britain's national power. He therefore sought compromises in the gradual reform of the system rather than immediate abolition of the trade or emancipation of the slaves.

Remaking the British Atlantic focuses on a crucial phase in the history of British-American relations: the first ten years of American Independence. These set the pattern for some years to come. On the one hand, there was to be no effective political rapprochement after rebellion and war. Mainstream British opinion was little influenced by the failure to subdue the revolt or by the emergence of a new America, for which they mostly felt disdain. What were taken to be the virtues of the British constitution were confidently reasserted and there was little inclination either to disengage from empire or to manage it in different ways. For their part, many Americans defined the new order that they were seeking to establish by their rejection of what they took to be the abuses of contemporary Britain. On the other hand, neither the trauma of war nor the failure to create harmonious political relations could prevent the re-establishment of the very close links that had spanned the pre-war Atlantic, locking people on both sides of it into close connections with one another. Many British migrants still went to America. Britain remained America's dominant trading partner. American tastes and the intellectual life of the new republic continued to be largely reflections of British tastes and ideas. America and Britain were too important for too many people in too many ways for political alienation to keep them apart.

In The Making and Unmaking of Empires P. J. Marshall, distinguished author of numerous books on the British Empire and former Rhodes Professor of Imperial History, provides a unified interpretation of British imperial history in the later eighteenth century. He brings together into a common focus Britain's loss of empire in North America and the winning of territorial dominion in parts of India and argues that these developments were part of a single phase of Britain's imperial history, rather than marking the closing of a 'first' Atlantic empire and the rise of a 'second' eastern one. In both India and North America Britain pursued similar objectives in this period. Fearful of the apparent enmity of France, Britain sought to secure the interests overseas which were thought to contribute so much to her wealth and power. This involved imposing a greater degree of control over colonies in America and over the East India Company and its new possessions in India. Aspirations to greater control also reflected an increasing confidence in Britain's capacity to regulate the affairs of subject peoples, especially through parliament. If British objectives throughout the world were generally similar, whether they could be achieved depended on the support or at least acquiescence of those they tried to rule. Much of this book is concerned with bringing together the findings of the rich historical writing on both post-Mughal India and late colonial America to assess the strengths and weaknesses of empire in different parts of the world. In North America potential allies who were closely linked to Britain in beliefs, culture and economic interest were ultimately alienated by Britain's political pretensions. Empire was extremely fragile in two out of the three main Indian settlements. In Bengal, however, the British achieved a modus vivendi with important groups which enabled them to build a secure base for the future subjugation of the subcontinent.

Sixteen obituaries of recently deceased Fellows of the British Academy: Peter Birks; Lord Dacre of Glanton; William Frend; John Gallagher; Philip Grierson; Stuart Hampsire; William McKane; Sir Malcolm Pasley; Ben Pimlott; Robert Pring-Mill; John Stevens, Peter Strawson; Sir William Wade; Alan Williams; Sir Bernard Williams and John Wymer.

Volume 151 of the 'Proceedings of the British Academy' contains 15 Lectures delivered at the British Academy in 2006 - from consideration of Einstein, to discussions of coercion and consent in Nazi Germany, and judicial independence.

Nineteen obituaries of recently deceased Fellows of the British Academy: W S Allen; George Anderson; A C de la Mare; John Flemming; James Harris; John Hurst; Casimir Lewy; Donald MacDougall; Colin Matthew; Edward Miller; Michio Morishima; Brian Reddaway; Marjorie Reeves; C Martin Robertson; Conrad Russell and Arnold Taylor.

Volume II of the Oxford History of the British Empire examines the history of British worldwide expansion from the Glorious Revolution of 1689 to the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a crucial phase in the creation of the modern British Empire. This is the age of General Wolfe, Clive of India, and Captain Cook. The international team of experts deploy the latest scholarly research to trace and analyse development and expansion over more than a century. They show how trade, warfare, and migration created an Empire, at first overwhelmingly in the Americas but later increasingly in Asia. Although the Empire was ruptured by the American Revolution, it survived and grew into the British Empire that was to dominate the world during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This fourth volume in the Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke series is also the last of the three Party and Parliament volumes, which follow Edmund Burke through from the opening of a newly elected Parliament which assembled on 31 October 1780 to his retirement from the Commons in 1794. This volume addresses Burke's views on the authority of Parliament over the British provinces in India, and his concerns about the implications of the French Revolution for British politics. He also expresses his views on issues that had always greatly interested him, such as the reform of criminal law, the confinement of debtors, and the abolition of what he regarded as outmoded economic regulations. The texts for the items, which have appeared in previous editions of Burke's Works, have been reconstructed, largely by the use of manuscripts, and many of the shorter speeches appear here in print for the first time.

The Oxford History of the British Empire is a major new assessment by leading scholars. Volume II examines the history of British worldwide expansion from the Glorious Revolution of 1689 to the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a crucial phase in the creation of the modern British Empire. This is the age of General Wolfe, Clive of India, and Captain Cook. Although the Empire was ruptured by the American Revolution, it survived and grew into the British Empire that was to dominate the world during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.