This book by world-expert Barry Gough examines the period of Pax Britannica , in the century before World War I. Following events of those 100 years, the book follows how the British failed to maintain their global hegemony of sea power in the face of continental challenges.

1. Defining Pax Britannica 2. Empire of the Seas 3. Anchors of Empire 4. Surveying the Seas, Expanding the Empire of Science 5. Informal and Formal Empires in the Americas 6. Challenges of Europe, the Mediterrarnean, and the Black Sea 7. Indian Ocean, Singapore and the China Seas 8. Imperial Web in the South Pacific 9. Send a Gunboat! 10. Anti-Slaver: West Affrica and the Americas 11. Treaty Making and Dhow Chasing in the Indian Ocean 12. Darkening Horizons 13. The Lion and the Eagle 14. Trident Bearers: The Navy as Britannia's Instrument 15. Recessional: End of Pax Britannica and the American Inheritance

Barry Gough is the author of many prize-winning and critically acclaimed histories dealing with the Royal Navy and the British Empire. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Fellow of Kings College London, UK, and Archives By-Fellow Churchill College, Cambridge, UK. His most recent book is Juan de Fuca's Strait: Voyages in the Waterway of Forgotten Dreams (2012).