€39.00
**Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2022**
**A NEW YORK TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, HISTORY TODAY and HISTORY EXTRA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022**
‘This book is dynamite’ – ROBERT GILDEA, author of Empires of the Mind
A searing, landmark study of the British Empire that lays bare its pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century.
Sprawling across a quarter of the world’s land mass and claiming nearly seven hundred million people, Britain’s empire was the largest in human history. For many, it epitomized the nation’s cultural superiority, but what legacy have we delivered to the world?
Spanning more than two hundred years of history, Caroline Elkins reveals an evolutionary and racialized doctrine 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 systematised. And she makes clear that when Britain could no longer maintain control over the violence it provoked and enacted, Britain retreated from its empire, destroying and hiding incriminating evidence of its policies and practices.
Drawing on more than a decade of research on four continents, Legacy of Violence implicates all sides of the political divide regarding the creation, execution, and cover-up of imperial violence. By demonstrating how and why violence was the most salient factor underwriting both the empire and British imperial identity, Elkins explodes long-held myths and sheds a disturbing new light on empire’s role in shaping the world today.
Out of stock
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.
Weight | 1.435 kg |
---|---|
Dimensions | 24 × 16.2 × 5.5 cm |
Author | |
Publisher | |
Imprint | |
Cover | Hardback |
Pages | x, 875 |
Language | English |
Edition | |
Dewey | 909.0971241082 (edition:23) |
Readership | General – Trade / Code: K |
Can’t find the right book, why not give a gift card and let them find that special book.
If we don’t have the book you want, we will do our best to order it for you and often have it in a few days.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Get notified about new articles