Books by Paul Kennedy

Paul Kennedy's classic naval history, now updated with a new introduction by the authorThis acclaimed book traces Britain's rise and fall as a sea power from the Tudors to the present day. Challenging the traditional view that the British are natural 'sons of the waves', he suggests instead that the country's fortunes as a significant maritime force have always been bound up with its economic growth. In doing so, he contributes significantly to the centuries-long debate between 'continental' and 'maritime' schools of strategy over Britain's policy in times of war. Setting British naval history within a framework of national, international, economic, political and strategic considerations, he offers a fresh approach to one of the central questions in British history. A new introduction extends his analysis into the twenty-first century and reflects on current American and Chinese ambitions for naval mastery.'Excellent and stimulating' Correlli Barnett'The first scholar to have set the sweep of British Naval history against the background of economic history' Michael Howard, Sunday Times'By far the best study that has ever been done on the subject ... a sparkling and apt quotation on practically every page' Daniel A. Baugh, International History Review'The best single-volume study of Britain and her naval past now available to us' Jon Sumida, Journal of Modern History

Vampire Capitalism will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, social theory, globalisation studies, development studies, political economy, geography, politics and social policy.

In the course of the twentieth century, there occurred a development unique in the story of humankind. States, which had defined themselves from Thucydides to Bismarck by their claims to sovereign independence, gradually came together to create international organizations to promote peace, curb aggression, regulate diplomatic affairs, devise an international code of law, encourage social development and foster prosperity. The emergence of this network of global governance was not straightforward and the debate about its role is just as heated today as it was generations ago. In this long-awaited new book, Paul Kennedy, probably the best-selling historian now living, examines this key development in the history of our century. Beginning with the earliest forms of international organization, he goes on to trace the creation and changing role of the UN in the postwar era, and finally suggests how, in the face of new threats to security and the continued vigour of at least some nation states, the institution will need to change over the course of the twenty-first century, arguing that we all share the responsibility to make the only world organization we possess work as well as possible.