The British Empire 1558-1995 by T.O. Lloyd

The British Empire 1558-1995 by T.O. Lloyd is a highly readable extensively researched history of the British Empire. This is from a larger series on world history topics (Short Oxford History of the Modern World). It is presumably aimed towards the college market.

The narrative tries to weave together the various parts of the empire as well as provide a wider perspective on the political entity as a whole. This is basically political and economic history with the occasional social or military comment thrown in. Considering the length of time covered it's always a risk that the reader will be bombarded with a list of names and dates without much context but this is not the case in this. I actually learned quite a bit. The book concludes with a bibliographic essay that occasionally gives snarky comments about further reading.

Highly recommended!