On The Lion's Share

I have no time to read virtually anything outside of school. I don't even have time to read half of the (text)books for my classes because my reading load is already so much. I am a history minor, and even being a history minor, I have read a lot. One such history book that I am reading is called The Lion's Share which is a "short" history of British imperialism. It is very interesting and informative and covers 120 years of information (1850-1970) in a proportionately small novel of 350 pages. It's not so much a text book as it is a novel. It reads more like a very long essay with each chapter divided into four to five different subjects under one larger topic.
I find it particularly fascinating to see Britain's varying approaches different colonial territories. In conjunction with the reading of this book, I am taking a middle eastern history class where a lot of this information regarding British imperialism is reinforced from learning about Egypt, Iraq, and Palestine/Israel. Britain often took a very controlling stance when it was in their economical/territorial interests and they were very hypocritical in terms of allowing their territories to exercise the basic democratic rights that they claimed to stand for, unless of course that territory happened to be inhabited by (white) British subjects.
The Lion's Share displayed Britain's approaches to dealing with it's colonial territories. Peace was much more profitable than conflict. Peace facilitated ease of trade and shipment. So, it was in Britain's best interests to suppress rebellions at any cost.  Eventually though, these rebellions forced Britain to ease their control and the force of western customs/beliefs on native populations.