Paxman tells the story of how a desire for conquest became a mission to improve the rest of mankind, especially in Africa, and in Central Africa he travels in the footsteps of David Livingstone who though a failure as a missionary became a legend. A flood of Christian missionaries followed and founded schools one of which today has 8000 pupils. In South Africa, Paxman tells the story of Cecil Rhodes, a maverick with a different sort of mission, who believed in the white man's right to rule the world and took vast swathes of land for Britain, laying down the foundations for apartheid, run by small numbers of colonial officials, The District Officer. In Kenya, where conflict in the form of the Mau Mau uprising between white settlers and the African population brought bloodshed, torture and eventual independence for Kenya and the break up of the empire.
—Enzedder