September 29, 1923. Once the Palestine Mandate officially takes effect, the British Empire is the largest the world has ever seen. But it is also an empire in rapid transition. Nationalist and Pan-African movements are gaining momentum throughout West Africa, thanks as much to Marcus Garvey as to the sustained efforts of local activists and politicians. On far-flung Ocean Island in the Pacific, highly profitable phosphate extraction threatens to render the land uninhabitable for its native population—and colonial officials are torn between their integrity and their careers. And in India, Jawaharlal Nehru and fellow nationalists wonder despairingly about the future of the independence movement as Gandhi languishes in prison.Moving from London to Kuala Lumpur, Australia to the West Indies, this book is a breathtaking and unflinching tour of the British Empire at its pinnacle.