British Empire

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• SOURCE: The Baffler
  5/5/2021
  

  Except for the Miracles

  by Olúfémi Táíwò

  "The deciding aspect of politics over these next crucial years will turn on battles against overwhelmingly powerful foes who will try to prevent radical redistribution of resources," writes Olúfémi Táíwò. The legacy of two radicals, in Ireland and Kenya, show the value of partial victory and learning from defeat. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  4/15/2021
  

  The Sun Never Set on the British Empire’s Oppression

  While nationalist leaders in postcolonial states win political support by invoking heroic struggle to defeat British imperialism, they are very happy to use the repressive laws of colonialism against dissidents today. 

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  3/21/2021
  

  Washington’s Delusion of Endless World Dominion

  by Alfred McCoy

  "While Washington had been pouring blood and treasure into desert sands, Beijing was making itself into the world’s workshop."

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  3/17/2021
  

  Why Can't Britain Handle the Truth about Winston Churchill?

  by Priyamvada Gopal

  "Churchill was an admired wartime leader who recognised the threat of Hitler in time and played a pivotal role in the allied victory. It should be possible to recognise this without glossing over his less benign side."

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Review of Books
  3/16/2021
  

  Fascism and Analogies — British and American, Past and Present

  by Priya Satia

  "Historical and local specificities mean all analogies are ultimately inaccurate in ways that historians must always make clear. The point of such comparisons, however, is to uncover darker historical truths obscured by prevailing, more flattering comparisons."

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  3/12/2021
  

  ‘Imperially Nostalgic Racists’ Target Empireland Author With Hate Mail

  The history of empire has become part of a growing British culture war, particularly since Black and brown British authors and historians have begun to weigh in with critical studies of imperialism. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  

  Irish President Attacks 'Feigned Amnesia' over British Imperialism

  “I am struck by a disinclination,” he says, “in both academic and journalistic accounts to critique empire and imperialism. Openness to, and engagement in, a critique of nationalism has seemed greater.

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  11/12/2020
  

  The National Trust is under Attack Because it Cares about History, not Fantasy

  by Peter Mitchell

  Britain's historic preservation agency has become the target of conservative politicians who have interpreted the Trust's commissioning of a report evaluating the relationship of its projects to slavery as an attack on the nation's historical identity.

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• 11/1/2020
  

  From a Victorian to a Twenty-First Century Understanding of Why History Matters

  by Priya Satia

  "Churchill was the apotheosis of the historically-minded statesman, committed to the idea of history as progress in which the role of great men was to suppress ordinary moral compunctions about destructive events that forwarded it."

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  10/26/2020
  

  Misremembering the British Empire

  Priya Satia's new book “Time’s Monster” joins a dense body of scholarship analyzing liberal justifications for empire. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  10/14/2020
  

  The Real Black History? The Government Wants To Ban It

  by Priyamvada Gopal

  Tory attacks on "victim narratives" in the history curriculum defend entrenched power and ignore the fact that Black British histories are about the power of protest and activism to make social change. 

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• SOURCE: TIME
  8/19/2020
  

  We Can't Tell Kamala Harris' Story Without the British Empire. We Can't Tell America's Without It Either

  by Priya Satia

  As Kamala Harris vies for the Vice Presidency, a complete recounting of her formation requires recognizing her as both a quintessentially American politician—because of, not despite, her being a child of immigrants—and part of a global story of the former British empire.

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• SOURCE: Barrons
  7/22/2020
  

  Row Over 'Misrepresentation' Of Slavery In UK Citizenship Test (Agence France Presse)

  Nearly 200 historians on Wednesday denounced what they said was the "misrepresentation of slavery and empire" in the history section of Britain's citizenship test, calling for it to be corrected.

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• SOURCE: The Times (London)
  7/23/2020
  

  Historians blast BBC for ‘unbalanced’ News At Ten report on Churchill

  Historians have criticised a BBC News report on Tuesday about Churchill’s role in the Bengal Famine, which killed three million people in 1943 and 1944. The report arguably blamed Churchill's racism without considering other material factors that lead to 3 million deaths. 

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• SOURCE: Photographic Museum of Humanity
  7/22/2020
  

  When Monuments Become the Narrative (review)

  "Leopold’s Legacy" by Oliver Leu is the most timely of books. It details how Belgian monuments to empire sustain narratives that abdicate responsibility, divert blame, and ultimately deny Belgium’s role in the mutilation and murder of millions of people.

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  6/24/2020
  

  Britain's Persistent Racism Cannot Simply Be Explained by its Imperial History

  by David Edgerton

  It played its part, but empire does not explain all of Britain’s record of elitism, exploitation and discrimination.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/12/2020
  

  A Statue Was Toppled. Can We Finally Talk About the British Empire?

  by Gurminder K. Bhambra

  Protesters who dumped Edward Colston's statue into Bristol harbor have forced a long-overdue discussion of how the British Empire conquered and governed in the past and set the stage for racial divisions in contemporary Britain. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/12/2020
  

  Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt (Review)

  An attack by the pirate Henry Every on a ship owned by the Grand Mughal of India jeopardized the toehold the British East India Company had gained in India. The British government's response helped launch imperial rule. 

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• 1/26/20
  

  History & Law: GW History Professor Jennifer Wells Discusses How Her Study of Law Has Informed her Career in History

  by Mark Detlor

  "I’m more much analytical as a result of law and try to immediately make an assertion and back it up with evidence when I write; I think it’s a very effective way of writing but I’m not sure that I would have mastered it had I not gone to law school."

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• SOURCE: The New York Times
  October 2, 2019
  

  History Museum Explores Germans’ View of Britain

  by The Associated Press

  As Brexit looms, one of Germany’s main history museums is examining Germans’ views of the British, complete with a countdown clock that may be reset if Britain’s departure from the European Union is delayed.