Doros Alastos, a literary pseudonym under which Evdoros Ioannidis (1910-1978) signed his works, was a significant and prolific Cypriot writer and an active member of the progressive movement in Great Britain, where he lived in self-exile from the 1930s until his death in 1978.

Alastos became mainly known for his political writings, which included books in English about Eleftherios Venizelos, the history of Cyprus, the liberation struggle of EOKA, and many more, as well as literary texts in Greek. Among his belongings was a complete history of the British Empire, written towards the end of the 1930s.

This unpublished work was provided by his son, Paul Joannides, a professor of art history at the University of Cambridge, for publication in the series of Sources of Cypriot Secretariat and History, thus coming to light more than eighty years after its writing.

The book is published as Appendix No. 1 because it does not exactly fall within the chronological limits of the series, which publishes works by Cypriot authors and sources related to Cyprus in the early modernity. Nevertheless, Alastos's work exudes the same spirit as the other sources in the series, specifically the political reflection of the Cypriot diaspora writer and the contemplation of the fate of the homeland island.