Sathnam Sanghera

Sanghera demonstrates how so much of what is considered to be modern Britain is actually rooted in the imperial past: from how the British live to how they think, from the foundation of the NHS to the nature of their racism, from their distrust of intellectuals in public life to the exceptionalism that imbued the campaign for Brexit and the government's early response to the Covid crisis

How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain

Empireland

Hardy Marwaha 

Empire explains why we have a diaspora of millions of Britons spread around the world. Empire explains the global pretensions of our Foreign and Defence secretaries. Empire explains the feeling that we are exceptional and can go it alone when it comes to everything from Brexit to dealing with global pandemics. Empire helped to establish the position of the City of London as one of the world's major financial centres, and also ensures that the interests of finance trump the interests of so many other groups in the twenty-first century. Empire explains how some of our richest families and institutions and cities became wealthy. Empire explains our particular brand of racism, it explains our distrust of cleverness, our propensity for jingoism. Let's face it, imperialism is not something that can be erased with a few statues being torn down or a few institutions facing up to their dark pasts; it exists as a legacy in my very being and, more widely, explains nothing less than who we are as a nation.

Vivek Chand

A remarkable, informative insight into the British empire and much of what is not known or deliberately swept under the carpet. This is a book that should be essential curriculum for UK students, for them to learn a more honest account of the Empire vs a glossy, rose tinted version that they get today.

Amazingly well researched, but if there is a comment - it is that the narration is very factful, so would have preferred a more storytelling approach. Still a very solid read.

Imie Kent-Muller

Eleanor 

Hannah Swithinbank

marta

Daniel Gynn

Jonathan Nahon

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'This remarkable book shines the brightest of lights into some of the darkest and most misunderstood corners of our shared history' James O'Brien _____________________________________________________ In his brilliantly illuminating new book Sathnam Sanghera demonstrates how so much of what we consider to be modern Britain is actually rooted in our imperial past. In prose that is, at once, both clear-eyed and full of acerbic wit, Sanghera shows how our past is everywhere: from how we live to how we think, from the foundation of the NHS to the nature of our racism, from our distrust of intellectuals in public life to the exceptionalism that imbued the campaign for Brexit and the government's early response to the Covid crisis. And yet empire is a subject, weirdly hidden from view. The British Empire ran for centuries and covered vast swathes of the world. It is, as Sanghera reveals, fundamental to understanding Britain. However, even among those who celebrate the empire there seems to be a desire not to look at it too closely - not to include the subject in our school history books, not to emphasize it too much in our favourite museums. At a time of great division, when we are arguing about what it means to be British, Sanghera's book urges us to address this bewildering contradiction. For, it is only by stepping back and seeing where we really come from, that we can begin to understand who we are, and what unites us. _______________________________________________________ 'Lucid but never simplistic; entertaining but never frivolous; intensely readable while always mindful of nuance and complexity - Empireland takes a perfectly-judged approach to its contentious but necessary subject' Jonathan Coe

Empireland How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain

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