A Private Empire

by Stephen Foster

Shortlisted for the 2011 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards

A ‘fascinating, lively and often moving book’ - John M. MacKenzie, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History

'... a remarkably impressive book ... The story he [Foster] tells is an extraordinary one; indeed if it were written in the fictional genre of the family saga you would think he was stretching credulity.' - Professor Stuart Macintyre launches A Private Empire at the National Library, Canberra

A Private Empire explores Britain’s imperial past through the eyes and experiences of a single family. Historian Stephen Foster focuses on the Macphersons of Blairgowrie in Scotland, who recorded their private and public lives through five generations in an extraordinary archive of letters, documents and diaries. Elegantly presented with contemporary paintings and photographs, A Private Empire tells an intimate story of ambition and frustration, love and deception, wisdom and folly, pride and shame, passion and restraint, an attachment to place, an affection for kin—all set against the grand shifting background of Britain’s imperial rule.

Genres: History

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Stephen Foster is an Australian historian who has spent much of his career at the borders of academic and public history. His books include A Private Empire, which was short-listed for the Ernest Scott Prize for History and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, and (as co-author) The Making of the Australian National University, which has been described as ‘a model university history’. He and his wife have three adult children and two grandchildren.