ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Andrew Roberts, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006) ("Just as we do not today differentiate between the Roman Republic and the imperial period of the Julio-Claudians when we think of the Roman Empire, so in the future no-one will bother to make a distinction between the British Empire-led and the American Republic-led periods of English-speaking dominance between the late-eighteenth and the twenty-first centuries. It will be recognised that in the majestic sweep of history they had so much in common--and enough that separated them from everyone else--that they ought to be regarded as a single historical entity. A Martian landing on our planet might find linguistic or geographical factors more useful than ethnic ones when it comes to analysing the different groups of earthlings; the countries whose history this book covers are those where  the majority of people speak English as their first language." Id. 1-2. "The English-speaking peoples . . . today know no rival in might, wealth or prestige. The most likely future challenger on the far horizon is China--not a contender in 1900--which still has very far to go before she can threaten to supplant them. A few fanatical malcontents from the former Ottoman Empire have proven their ability to strike a painful blow to the heart of the greatest city of the English-speaking peoples, it is true, but their fury is a mark of their enemies' primacy rather than a serious threat to it. Even were terrorists to strike a further, perhaps chemical, biological or nuclear blow against one of the English-speaking peoples' principal cities, it would not destroy that primacy. As George Will has observed, 'Al-Queda has no rival model about how to run a modern society. Al-Queda has a howl of rage against the idea of modernity." Id. at 647 (citation omitted). "The English-speaking peoples . . . today . . . are the last, best hope for Mankind. It is an the nature of human affairs that in the words of the hymn, 'Earth's proud empires pass away'. and so too one day will the long hegemony of the English-speaking peoples. When they finally come to render up the report of their global stewardship to History, there will be much of which to boast. Only when another power--such as China--holds global sway will the human race come to mourn the passing of this most decent, honest, generous, fair-minded and self-sacrificing imperium." Id. at 647-648.).