The British Empire and Its Contested Pasts

The British Empire and Its Contested Pasts
Author: Robert J. Blyth
Publisher:
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN:

Imperial rule, commerce, culture and contestation of empire are all represented in this volume, with a particular (but by no means exclusive) focus on aspects and consequences of Britain's Asian empire, as well as reflections on Irish engagements with the British imperial phenomenon. While engagements between colonisers (including those bringing with them a 'civilising mission') and indigenous peoples are explored, so too are cultural perceptions of empire by Britons, and Britain by the colonised who ventured to the imperial 'Mother Country'. Unexpected corners of the imperial experience are covered, including Belfast-supported missionaries in Nigeria and French Canadian sympathizers for Irish nationalists. Affirmations of empire stand side by side with contestations in, for example, China, Ireland, Africa and Canada. *** "...contributions add up to a lively and many-faceted volume that will profit all students of the British Empire..." - Victorian Studies, Vol. 54, No. 4, Summer 2012Ã?Â?Ã?Â?

Imperial Legacies

Imperial Legacies
Author: Jeremy Black
Publisher: Encounter Books
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1641770392

Britain yesterday; America today. The reality of being top dog is that everybody hates you. In this provocative book, noted historian and commentator Jeremy Black shows how criticisms of the legacy of the British Empire are, in part, criticisms of the reality of American power today. He emphasizes the prominence of imperial rule in history and in the world today, and the selective way in which certain countries are castigated. Imperial Legacies is a wide-ranging and vigorous assault on political correctness, its language, misuse of the past, and grasping of both present and future.

The Trouble with Empire

The Trouble with Empire
Author: Antoinette M. Burton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199936609

While imperial blockbusters fly off the shelves, there is no comprehensive history dedicated to resistance in the 19th and 20th century British Empire. The Trouble with Empire is the first volume to fill this gap, offering a brief but thorough introduction to the nature and consequences of resistance to British imperialism. Historian Antoinette Burton's study spans the 19th and 20th centuries, when discontented subjects of empire made their unhappiness felt from Ireland to Canada to India to Africa to Australasia, in direct response to incursions of military might and imperial capitalism. The Trouble with Empire offers the first thoroughgoing account of what British imperialism looked like from below and of how tenuous its hold on alien populations was throughout its long, unstable life. By taking the long view, moving across a variety of geopolitical sites and spanning the whole of the period 1840-1955, Burton examines the commonalities between different forms of resistance and unveils the structural weaknesses of the British Empire.0.

The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997

The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997
Author: Piers Brendon
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 850
Release: 2010-02-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307388417

A WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD NOTABLE BOOK After the American Revolution, the British Empire appeared to be doomed. Yet it grew to become the greatest, most diverse empire the world had seen. Then, within a generation, the mighty structure collapsed, a rapid demise that left an array of dependencies and a contested legacy: at best a sporting spirit, a legal code and a near-universal language; at worst, failed states and internecine strife. The Decline and Fall of the British Empire covers a vast canvas, which Brendon fills with vivid particulars, from brief lives to telling anecdotes to comic episodes to symbolic moments.

The British Empire

The British Empire
Author: League of the Empire
Publisher: London : The League of the Empire (on behalf of the trustees of the Spitzel Imperial Education Trust)
Total Pages: 908
Release: 1909
Genre: Colonies
ISBN:

The British Empire

The British Empire
Author: Jeremy Black
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2016-03-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317039882

What was the course and consequence of the British Empire? The rights and wrongs, strengths and weaknesses of empire are a major topic in global history, and deservedly so. Focusing on the most prominent and wide-ranging empire in world history, the British empire, Jeremy Black provides not only a history of that empire, but also a perspective from which to consider the issues of its strengths and weaknesses, and rights and wrongs. In short, this is history both of the past, and of the present-day discussion of the past, that recognises that discussion over historical empires is in part a reflection of the consideration of contemporary states. In this book Professor Black weaves together an overview of the British Empire across the centuries, with a considered commentary on both the public historiography of empire and the politically-charged character of much discussion of it. There is a coverage here of social as well as political and economic dimensions of empire, and both the British perspective and that of the colonies is considered. The chronological dimension is set by the need to consider not only imperial expansion by the British state, but also the history of Britain within an imperial context. As such, this is a story of empires within the British Isles, Europe, and, later, world-wide. The book addresses global decline, decolonisation, and the complex nature of post-colonialism and different imperial activity in modern and contemporary history. Taking a revisionist approach, there is no automatic assumption that imperialism, empire and colonialism were ’bad’ things. Instead, there is a dispassionate and evidence-based evaluation of the British empire as a form of government, an economic system, and a method of engagement with the world, one with both faults and benefits for the metropole and the colony.

The Trouble with Empire

The Trouble with Empire
Author: Antoinette Burton
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2015-09-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190265671

The Trouble with Empire contends that dissent and disruption were constant features of imperial experience and that they should, therefore, drive narratives of the modern British imperial past. Moving across the one hundred years between the first Anglo-Afghan war and Gandhi's salt marches, the book tracks commonalities between different forms of resistance in order to understand how regimes of imperial security worked in practice. This emphasis on protest and struggle is intended not only to reveal indigenous agency but to illuminate the limits of imperial power, official and unofficial, as well. "Pax Britannica"-the conviction that peace was the dominant feature of modern British imperialism-remains the working presumption of most empire histories in the twenty-first century. The Trouble with Empire, in contrast, originates from skepticism about the ability of hegemons to rule unchallenged and about the capacity of imperial rule to finally and fully subdue those who contested it. The book follows various forms of dissent and disruption, both large and small, in three domains: the theater of war, the arena of market relations, and the realm of political order. Tracking how empire did and did not work via those who struggled against it recasts ways of measuring not simply imperial success or failure, but its very viability across the uneven terrain of daily power. The Trouble with Empire argues that empires are never finally or fully accomplished but are always in motion, subject to pressures from below as well as above. In an age of spectacular insurgency and counterinsurgency across many of the former possessions of Britain's global empire, such a genealogy of the forces that troubled imperial hegemony are needed now more than ever.

The British Empire: Teach Yourself

The British Empire: Teach Yourself
Author: Michael Lynch
Publisher: Teach Yourself
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2012-07-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1444160397

The teach yourself history series offers a refreshing alternative to dense academic historical books, its content being extensive yet written in an accessible and engaging style. All titles in this series are informative and compelling. Assuming no prior knowledge and full of anecdotes and fascinating details, these books will keep the reader hooked from beginning to end. At its greatest extent the British Empire covered one quarter of the globe and contained one sixth of the world's population. This book considers the fascinating and unique history of the British Empire from its origins and development to its demise and legacy. Michael Lynch considers the countries, motives and individuals involved with engaging objectivity. He pays particular attention to India, the 'Jewel in the Crown', and the Scramble for Africa before shifting the focus to the people of the Empire. He offers an original and fascinating insight into the lives of the adventurers, missionaries, settlers and administrators, as well as the colonised themselves.

The British Empire

The British Empire
Author: Philippa Levine
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2019-11-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351259660

The British Empire: Sunrise to Sunset is a broad survey of the history of the British Empire from its beginnings to its demise that offers a comprehensive analysis of what life was like under colonial rule, weaving the everyday stories of people living through the experience of colonialism into the bigger picture of empire. The experience of the British Empire was not limited to what happened behind closed doors or on the floor of Parliament. It affected men, women and children across the globe, making a difference to what they ate and what kind of work they did, what languages and lessons they learned in school, and how they were able to live their lives. This new edition expands its coverage and discusses the relationship between Brexit and empire as well as the recent controversies connected to empire that have engulfed Britain: the Windrush scandal, the fight over the Chagos Islands and the Mau Mau lawsuits, bringing it up to date and engaging with key debates that govern the study of empire. Painting a picture of life for all those affected by empire and supported by maps and illustrations, this is the perfect text for all students of imperial history.

Empire

Empire
Author: Jeremy Paxman
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2011-10-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0670919608

From the bestselling author of The English comes Empire, Jeremy Paxman's history of the British Empire accompanied by a flagship 5-part BBC TV series, for readers of Simon Schama and Andrew Marr. The influence of the British Empire is everywhere, from the very existence of the United Kingdom to the ethnic composition of our cities. It affects everything, from Prime Ministers' decisions to send troops to war to the adventurers we admire. From the sports we think we're good at to the architecture of our buildings; the way we travel to the way we trade; the hopeless losers we will on, and the food we hunger for, the empire is never very far away. In this acute and witty analysis, Jeremy Paxman goes to the very heart of empire. As he describes the selection process for colonial officers ('intended to weed out the cad, the feeble and the too clever') the importance of sport, the sweating domestic life of the colonial officer's wife ('the challenge with cooking meat was "to grasp the fleeting moment between toughness and putrefaction when the joint may possibly prove eatable"') and the crazed end for General Gordon of Khartoum, Paxman brings brilliantly to life the tragedy and comedy of Empire and reveals its profound and lasting effect on our nation and ourselves. 'Paxman is witty, incisive, acerbic and opinionated . . . In short, he carries the whole thing off with panache bordering on effrontery' Piers Brendon, Sunday Times 'Paxman is a magnificent historian, and Empire may be remembered as his finest work' Independent on Sunday Jeremy Paxman was born in Yorkshire and educated at Cambridge. He is an award-winning journalist who spent ten years reporting from overseas, notably for Panorama. He is the author of five books including The English. He is the presenter of Newsnight and University Challenge and has presented BBC documentaries on various subjects including Victorian art and Wilfred Owen.