Running the Show: The Extraordinary Stories of the Men who Governed the British Empire

‘An amusing and lively book, stuffed full of anecdotes and interesting titbits’ Amanda Foreman, New Statesman

‘May God forgive us for our sorry deeds and for our glorious intentions’

Who were the men governing the Empire in the nineteenth century? How were they chosen and controlled? Were they sane or mad? And why did they do it?

From Fiji to the Falkland Islands, from Malaysia to Australia and South Africa, from Lagos to Ottawa, ordinary British men and women, with no training, were dispatched to strange places, among strange people and faced unimaginable conditions. Some started wars. Others fought disease, injustice and slavery. Many died or went mad. Running the Show, drawing on vast unpublished sources, reveals the day-today lives, griefs and triumphs of governors at the height of the British Empire as they struggled to make sense of their charges and, frequently, themselves.