What characteristics do the subjects of Brown's book have in common? What prepared them for the positions they ultimately held, and the acts that put them in power? Compare these men's temperaments with the temperaments of other, less-successful governors and leaders. What did they have that the others did not? What was it about the conditions of colonization and trade that brought out strong traits in governors?

What allowed Robert Clive to change his ways, between his early successes in India and his later return to institute a civil government there? How did other merchant kings answer this same tension, between personal wealth and power and civil responsibility? Why did other merchant kings NOT make the same leap to responsibility?

What do the private lives of the six characters Brown describes tell us about the temperament necessary for colonization? What do the merchant kings'...