Moscow: Publishing house "XXI vek-Soglasie", 2000. 380 p.; Moscow: Publishing house "XXI vek-Soglasie", 2001. 463 p. Two new books by E. A. Glushchenko, author of more than 50 scientific papers and the monograph "The First Republic in Nigeria", could be attributed to the historical and biographical genre, which has deep traditions in Russian historiography, but for a number of reasons in the last two and a half decades tends to politicized journalism and popularization. However, their subject matter goes beyond this genre, since the author examines the activities of his characters in the context of the problems of the colonial policy of Great Britain and Russia and colonialism in general. He addresses the debatable problems of the history of colonialism, offering, in particular, its new definition, pays special attention to the Russian-British colonial rivalry, similarities and differences between the Russian and British systems of colonial administration. The author did not seek to completely recreate the military - political biographies of his heroes, but focused on the least known and controversial of their military - administrative activities. He relied on numerous scientific publications, memoir literature, archival documents available to him, and the press; he also uses some materials and photographic documents from his family archive (E. A. Glushchenko's ancestors served in Central Asia, participated in its colonial development). The heroes of the book "Empire Builders" are the colonial figures of Great Britain F. Lugard and F. McCarthy. Robert, as well as Russia - K. P. von Kaufmann and M. D. Skobelev. Especially interesting is the essay about Frederick Lugard, who is known not only for his military-administrative, but also for his scientific and theoretical activities. The author pays special attention to F. Lugard's work " The Double Mandate in British Tropical Africa "(1914), which numerous admirers and followers of Lugard "eventually turned into a dogma, ... Read more