Gun, the Ship and the Pen (eBook)

A remarkable feat of scholarship on an international scale ... Impressive

Fascinating ... Most historians emphasise literacy and liberty, seeing constitutions as the product of high-minded, slightly bloodless political salons. Colley's approach is more imaginative [with] plenty of memorably colourful details ... A different, surprising twist on international history

The purest crystallization of modern politics is the written constitution. Despite its lofty ideals, the document's many guises across the world repeatedly failed to meet their stated aspirations. Remarkable therefore are our centuries of persistent belief in constitutions. With her characteristic skill, erudition, and creativity, Linda Colley, one of our greatest historians, explains this seeming conundrum through a history of the durability of human hope, war, and political imagination. This is a monumentally important book

Linda Colley is a historian of her time; but she is also a completely original intelligence

A global history of remarkable depth, imagination and insight

In this ambitious work, Linda Colley seeks to rethink the "long" nineteenth century through the prism of the many constitutions it produced. Written with characteristic vigor and clarity, her book shows the continued validity of "big picture" history in asking searching questions and providing unexpected answers

In this bold, lucid, and wide-ranging book, Linda Colley reveals the international dialogue that created our age of constitutions. She insightfully embeds the emergence of new modes of governance in the global interplay of mass literacy with mass warfare. Colley helps us understand the true origins and growing importance of constitutional government.

Written with Colley's usual erudition, insight and style ... transforms what sounds like the dry matter of paper documents into an enthralling account of how warfare, national identity and colonial exploitation follow each other in the emergence of constitutions across the world. A work of thrilling scholarship

A wide-ranging, beautifully written global history ... Colley's narrative is rich, and she emphasizes the colorful characters who have contributed to constitution-making projects around the world ... Fascinating

Reassesses the enduring connection between might and right in the creation of nations, citizens and constitutions

From the Mediterranean to Japan, a dazzling, beautifully-written and surprising tale to discover the deep connections between the transformations of modern warfare and the rise of constitutions across the globe. A must read.

One of the most exciting historians of her generation, but also one of the most interesting writers of non-fiction around

Wildly ambitious, prodigiously researched ... The narrative ranges widely and fascinatingly across continents and prominent historical figures ... A sweeping, unique, truly world-spanning political and military history

A marvelous tour with a brilliant guide through world history in search of the early adopters of written constitutions --a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Linda Colley, in her surprising and insightful new book, asks us to view the development of constitutionalism across the globe as part of an interlinked set of historical processes ... Examples scarcely give a full flavour of Colley's richly integrated history

Rarely is a history so satisfyingly broad in outlook while avoiding abstraction and generalisation. It is rich, enjoyable, enlightening and imaginative. Colley takes you on intellectual journeys you wouldn't think to take on your own, and when you arrive you wonder that you never did it before

Incandescent, paradigm-shifting ... Colley has upended much of what historians believe about the origins of written constitutions ... If there were a Nobel Prize in History, Colley would be my nominee