Most of the way through the book right now and it is indeed living up to its promise. I had become aware of a lot of holes in my understanding of events around

Most of the way through the book right now and it is indeed living up to its promise. I had become aware of a lot of holes in my understanding of events around, e.g., British consolidation in India during this period or the broader diplomatic context of South American independence movements and the book is doing a good job of filling them in.