‘If there were a Nobel Prize in History, Colley would be my nominee’ - Jill Lepore, New Yorker ‘One of the most exciting historians of her generation, but also one of the most interesting writers of non-fiction around’ - William Dalrymple, Guardian ‘Colley takes you on intellectual journeys you wouldn’t think to take on your own, and when you arrive you wonder that you never did it before’ - David Aaronovitch, the Times ‘A global history of remarkable depth, imagination and insight’ - Tony Barber, Financial Times Summer Books Starting, not with the United States, but with the costume of Corsica in 1755, "The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen" traverses every continent, overturning accepted narratives. Both monarchs and radicals play a role, from Catherine the Great of Russia with her Remarkable Nakaz, to James Africanus Horton of Sierra Leone, and Khayr-al-Din of Tunisia, creator of the first modern Islamic Constitution. Throughout, Colley demonstrates how constitutions evolved in tandem with wars, how they worked to promote empires but also to advance nations, and how they served to exclude as well as to liberate. Whether reinterpreting the important Japanese constitution of 1889 or exploring the significance of the first constitution to grant voting rights to all adult women on Pitcairn Island in 1838, this is one of the most original global histories of the last decade. Pages: 512, Year of Publication: 0203, Dimensions: 12.8x12.8cm