It took me more than six years. I did a lot of research for it in London. I did not travel much except for visiting India several times. There were good reasons for it. For one, India was certainly the most important of the British colonies and it is the jewel in the crown of this book.

Secondly, it is a pleasure to travel through India. It is a country that is respectful of its history. They don't smash up old parts of the regime. If they don't want to keep part of the past in public, they put them away.

In Lucknow, there is a huge collection of old British statues. I am also amazed at the way some of the old British clubs are maintained in India. In the course of my research I visited a number of these clubs including the Tollygunge Club in Calcutta. In Kerala, I visited the High Range Club in Munnar where they have high range hats hanging and there is so much of old-fashioned headgear there although it was part of India's imperial history.

I visited a club in Ooty which has pictures of Queen Victoria and many things connected with the Raj.

Some reviewers have said your book, while rejecting the revivalist notions about the glory of the British Empire, is still a moral audit of the Empire. And you make room for the good deeds.

I believe that many people in the British foreign service were attracted to India -- and other countries -- by a moral calling. They were not missionaries. But they worked ceaselessly and without succumbing to corruption to bring about reforms that are appreciated even today in many former colonies.

They worked to abolish sati in India, for example. They were officers like General Sir Charles Napier, who questioned cultural relativism and promised to act according to the custom of his own country. He said, 'When men burn women alive we hang them.' In Africa many civil servants and missionaries endeavored to put down slavery.