Legacy of violence

21.55

Sprawling across a quarter of the world’s land mass and claiming nearly 500 colonial subjects, Britain’s empire was the largest empire in human history. For many, it epitomised our nation’s cultural superiority, but what legacy have we delivered to the world? Spanning more than 200 years of history, Caroline Elkins reveals evolutionary and racialised doctrines that espoused an unrelenting deployment of violence to secure and preserve British imperial interests. She outlines how ideological foundations of violence were rooted in Victorian calls for punishing indigenous peoples who resisted subjugation, and how over time, this treatment became increasingly institutionalised.

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Description

A NEW YORK TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, HISTORY TODAY AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘Masterly… This book is dynamite’ – ROBERT GILDEA, author of Empires of the Mind

**Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize**
**Winner of the NYU/Axinn Foundation Prize**

A searing, landmark study of the British Empire that lays bare its pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century.

Drawing on more than a decade of research on four continents, Caroline Elkins reveals the dark heart of Britain’s Empire: a racialised, systemised doctrine of unrelenting violence, which it used to secure and maintain its interests across the globe.

When Britain could no longer maintain control over that violence, it simply retreated – and sought to destroy the evidence. Legacy of Violence is a monumental achievement that explodes long-held myths and deserves the attention of anyone who seeks to understand empire’s role in shaping the world today.

‘Not so much a history book as a book of historical significance’ BBC History Magazine

‘Riveting’ New Statesman

‘Crucial…as unflinching as it is gripping, as carefully researched as it is urgently necessary’ Jill Lepore, author of These Truths

Additional information

Weight 0.708 kg
Dimensions 19.8 × 12.9 × 5.6 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

896

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

909.0971241082 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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