The Blood Never Dried: A People's History of the British Empire

by John Newsinger

Newsinger challenges the claim that the British Empire was a kinder, gentler empire and suggests that the description 'rogue state' is more fitting. In a wonderful popular history of key episodes in British imperial history, he illustrates the darker side of the glory years - Britain's deep involvement in the Chinese opium trade; Gladstone's maiden parliamentary speech defending his family's slave plantation in Jamaica paying particular attention to the strenuous efforts of the colonised to free themselves of the motherland's baleful rule.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, British Literature, Historical, World History, European History

445 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2006

About the author

John Newsinger is a British Marxist professor of History at Bath Spa University.

A book reviewer for the New Left Review, he is also author of numerous books and articles, as well as studies of science fiction and of the cinema. He teaches on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Reviews

[Simon Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

INTRODUCING THE REAL BRITISH EMPIRE

John Newsingers "The Blood Never Dried" might be subtitled as a "Peoples History of the British Empire" but it is nothing of the sort. What the reader will instead find is a fine piece of writing that rather than providing a linear history of the Empire, examines a number of historical episodes that starkly illuminate what under girded the Empires existence: brutality and violence.

The selection is from what is known as the second British Empire, that which existed after the loss of the American colonies during the late eighteenth century. The episodes examined are (1) Jamaica and Slavery, (2) The Irish Famine, (3) The Opium Wars in China, (4) The 1857-58 Rebellion (Mutiny) in India, (5) The Invasion of Egypt in 1882, (6) The Imperial Crisis subsequent to WW1, (7) The Palestine Revolt of the late 1930's, (8) The campaign for Indian Independence, (9) The Suez War, (10) Kenya and the Mau-Mau Insurrection, (11) Malaya's "Emergency", and (12) Britains relationship with American Imperialism.

Each chapter focussing on one of the subjects (as listed above) and also put the events described into a broader historical context, including many quotes from contemporary participants and observers. It also reminds the reader that what a vicious racist Churchill could be, not least in relation to Iraq (where he spoke up for gassing recalcitrant tribes) and India (where even his viceroy in India was appalled at his callous response to the Bengal Famine that cost millions of Indian lives). Those who have fond memories of Old Labour will be disturbed to discover that one area of continuity between New and Old is foreign policy. Ernest Bevin, Herbert Morrison and even Clement Atlee were quite as capable of carrying out brutal imperial policies as their Conservative opponents. Each episode also includes some commentary on how orthodox histories, and biographies, have dealt with the history that Newsinger brings to the reader, giving them an idea of the paucity and partiality of much historical writing on this subject. The only source of irritation, albeit minor, was Newsingers pigeon-holing of every insurrection, uprising, rebellion, etc as "revolutionary".

"The Blood Never Dried" is an excellent introduction to the reality of the British Empire. It is far from exhaustive, it could easily be three or four times the size, but one that is an ideal riposte to some of the recent boosters of Empire, from Niall Ferguson (soon to revamp the history curriculum) to Tony Blair, Andrew Roberts to Gordon Brown, and all too many more. Well recommended.

[Liam89 · Rating 5 out of 5]

"On its Empire the sun never sets, and the blood never dried either." This withering retort to British jingoism from the socialist and radical Ernest Jones not only provided John Newsinger's book with an eye-catching title, but also tells you everything you need to know about the barbaric nature of the British Empire. The book strips away every attempt that has been made over the past fifty years to portray the Empire as a benevolent or civilising force. Beginning with the West Indian and Caribbean slave revolts of the 18th Century, and charting British imperial missions in India, China, Egypt, Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Ireland, Newsinger uses meticulous attention to detail to demonstrate how the British Empire was maintained through staggering cruelty, torture, mass-murder, extrajudicial executions, and internment without trial, and all in order to maintain the interests of the capitalist classes in London, for whom the Empire provided so much benefit. Apologists for Empire often claim that Britain provided civilisation and administrative experience to its colonies. However, these experiences only benefited the oppressed indigenous populations in the sense (as Karl Marx so presciently wrote about British rule in India) that such advances would one day enable them to facilitate the overthrow of their British masters. Compulsively readable, well-researched, and suitably outraged, this is a must for all opponents of imperialism, and all those who believe that there is any pride to be taken in having once maintained the largest empire the world has ever seen.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This history is superb but I say that as descendent and citizen of one of those places that benefited for the longest period from the 'blessings' and 'advantages' of the attentions of Britain's glorious empire (Ireland). It is extraordinary how many people still get hot under the collar when it is implied that the British empire was not created and maintained to improve the lot of 'deserving' foreigners. Quite why people find it so objectionable to point out that empires are created to benefit conquerors. England's history provides powerful parallels in the harrowing of the North of England by the Norman conquerors. No one wants to be conquered, the English least of all, so why should anyone else welcome it.

The great fault of this history is that it was written in response to Niall Ferguson's ridiculously mendacious and tendentious 'Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World' and 'Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire' and in the immediate aftermath of the USA invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan (in both of which the PM Tony Blair sacrificed the lives UK soldiers in order to be allowed to be President Bush's bitch) when the idea of empire for a thankfully brief if bloody moment made a brief resurgence. Twenty years later all that survives of that moment is Niall Ferguson's lucrative career as polemicist for right wing US based pressure groups. If this insanity's only cost was Ferguson's reputation as a historian then you might think it was a lesson without cost. But the cost was greater, not simply in US and UK casualties whose numbers have been counted but the uncounted tens of thousands of Iraqi and Afghanistan civilian dead who were not counted.

Those uncounted civilian dead in Iraq and Afghanistan and the equally uncounted civilian dead of every place that Britain conquered and ruled is the real price of empire and the story of this history.

But, although this is a history inspired by newspaper headlines, it is not inaccurate or wrong, it is simply polemical. Journalism may be polemical but not history, not good history. Reading this book now is to be reminded of the twenty years that have passed, Tony Blair is probably the least respected former UK prime minister and has no purchase on the generation that has grown up in the years since this book was written. It is a sad fact that what seemed of utmost importance to one generation, in my case Kent State, for the author the 2003 London rally of 1.5 million against invading Iraq, now seem or someone 24 years old today both impossibly antique. It is a book that though true has outlived its time. Better to turn to, for example, Caroline Eakins excellent exposes of Britain's truly horrific record in Kenya 'Imperial Reckoning' and 'Britain's Gulag' and the many others that have thrown a harsh but true light on Britain's empire.

But why did we ever imagine that the UK was different to everyone else? The truth about empire and colonialism has been told again and again perhaps never finer than in 'Exterminate all the Brutes' by Sven Lindqvist from 1992. It has not aged the way Newsinger's history has because it did not arise from a desire to cut down a paper tiger like Niall Ferguson. By hitching his denunciation so firmly to what has so rapidly ceased to be current events Newsinger's history is in danger of putting the universal infamy of empire within an easily dismissed political moment.

This is not a bad book. What it says is true and worth reading but it is tainted by its polemical roots. Search out other better books to spend your time on.

[Rick Harsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important book, but its extremely good review of colonial brutality is diminished a bit by the failure to be thorough regarding post WWII sucking up to the US. Nothing about 'gladio' and nothing about Chagos.
Very much worth reading nonetheless.

[Journalist1 · Rating 1 out of 5]

My first question is how can anyone take seriously a book that fails even to get the Indian Independence Day correct? Newsinger is intellectually dishonest with a penchant for camouflaging success with failure, his faulty, revisionist view of the British Empire tells you more about the author than his subject. Here is a man who views everything through the lens of his ideology and that lens is at times rose-colored and alternatively muddy. One of the biggest concerns about his work is the lack of peer review, The Blood Never Dried is highly predictable, pedantic and gives the reader a twisted and toxic sense of historical reality but what can one expect from a darling of Marxism?
I am sure that American readers will lap this book up satisfying themselves that Hollywood history is the real deal. However, for the rest of us the book should be titled: 'Morton's Demon At Work' or 'How To Win Like-Minded Friends With Confirmation Bias'

[Furqan]

"Debating Imperialism is a bit like debating the pros and cons of rape. What can we say? That we really miss it?" - Arundhati Roy

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a Marxist history of the British Empire, and that ideological viewpoint ought to be held in mind when dealing with this book. This is not a full history of the Empire, but it effectively amounts to a list of wrongs from the Marxist lens. It is sold as a counterpoint to so-called 'apologist' histories of the British Empire. In line with that, the author starts by castigating a well-known historians of the Empire who did not mention the Bengal famine. But during his account of the Taiping Rebellion (pages 63-65), Newsinger does not mention that the Taiping rebels brutally massacred every Manchu man, woman and child in Nanjing when they took the city. He also praises the Taiping, despite their atrocities (for a much better account of the Taiping Rebellion, see Chapter 8 in Jonathan Spence's The Search For Modern China ) The Taiping Rebellion was not a heroic revolt as the author implies, but a catastrophe that caused 20 million deaths. That makes the author incredibly hypocritical, as he guilty of the very thing he criticized lots of other historians for. Newsinger also talks about the British burning down the Summer Palace during the Second Opium War as a great evil inflicted on China, but it is comparable to the British burning the Library of Congress during the War of 1812, something that he does not mention. If we were to judge this author by the standards he applied to others over the Bengal famine, then we must say that this author is negligent and trying to hide something.

For a balanced and more objective history of British Empire, see the books by John Darwin (one of the historians Newsinger lambasted) which are far superior to this ideological diatribe. I also recommend The Rise and Fall of the British Empire by Lawrence James.

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!

During the great Indian rebellion (1857-58) we see that a fine Christian soldier by the name of Colonel John Nicholson was very much in favour of “a bill for the flaying alive, impalement, or burning of the murderers of women and children.” If he had his way, “I would inflict the most excruciating tortures I could think of on them with a perfectly easy conscience.”

Perhaps this is what is meant by the British Empire bringing good Christian morality and civilised behaviour to the rest of the world?...

Starting off in the Caribbean back in the 1700s, Newsinger does a world tour in a time machine of sorts, revealing a profoundly disturbing catalogue of horrors that Empire was responsible for, we get a look at the sheer cruelty, oppression and slaughter that the British Empire was capable of handing out, seemingly relishing it as a moralistic art form.

There’s just so much in here, so I’ve just selected some of the more memorable or shocking quotes and facts which stuck out for me,

£70 million on the Crimean War, £20 million to compensate the slave owners but could only find £8 million for those starving to death in the Irish famine.

“The British Empire was the largest drug pusher the world has ever seen.” And, “The most long-continued and systemic crime of modern times.”

Are just two of the pithy quotes to describe Britain’s opium trade in the 1800s.

One of the more memorable accounts, concerns that of William Jardine of Jardine Matheson (the biggest culprit in the illegal opium trade). Jardine made vast amounts and used his wealth to buy a seat at the House of Commons. Founded in 1832 Jardine Matheson and Co were the biggest smugglers and today still remain a major financial and trading interest, the other partner James Matheson also became an MP in the 1840s, and remained so for around 25 years, he bought the Hebridean island of Lewis, built a castle and cleared more than 500 families, shipping them off to Canada. He later became , a chairman of the Bank of England, chairman of P&O – the major opium carrier for most of the 19th Century and was the second biggest landowner in Britain.

His successor nephew Alexander Matheson, also bought vast tracts of land and went onto become a MP for nearly 40 years. Another nephew, Hugh Matheson went onto form Rio Tinto Zinc in the 1870s – showing that crime certainly does pay and if you are going to be a drug pusher its always best to do it on a vast, international scale.

“I have never experienced such orgies of murder, arson and looting as I have witnessed during the past 16 days with the RIC Auxiliaries.” This referred to the destruction and pillaging of central Cork in 1921. Then there was also Bloody Sunday 1921 in Belfast.

“While the fascist bombing of Guernica in Spain caused outrage in Britain. British aircraft were bombing Palestinian villages with hardly a murmur.”

“The reality was that in Kenya the flogging, torture, mutilation, rape and summary execution of suspects and prisoners were everyday occurrences.”

I have one minor reservation about this and it has a bit of a dry style, but make no mistake about it – this is a fine work of research and journalism, with some truly first-rate revelations. It exposes the British Empire in all of its hypocrisy, contradictions, myths, lies and wide-scale slaughter which went on for centuries across every inhabited continent on Earth. This sits up there with the likes of Chomsky, Pilger and Curtis.

[Phil Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb look at the British Empire, who existence dripped with blood. Sustained by brute force, double dealing, bribery, rape and murder, it is quite shocking how barbaric the actions to support Queen/King and country have been; and I speak as someone interested in history and one not overly misty-eyed over the conduct of British History. But as it seems that there is cabal of historians, appearing in the media, who want to 'reclaim' the history of the Empire and show its 'benefits', it is important to remember the millions who were sacrificed to make Britain 'Great'. But the book isn't just about the victims of Empire; it describes the courage and bravery of people to fight against it. In India, Kenya, Ireland, indeed across the Empire, normal people consistently rose up and challenged those who had them in chains. If the actions of the Empire are appalling and stomach-churning, then the stories of those struggling to free themselves is inspiring.

[Owain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone with an interest in British history or the history of imperialism. Compulsory reading for everyone living in Britain (IMO). This book is jam-packed with the horrific injustices of centuries of colonial warfare, brutality and terrorism and although it misses out much from the early empire it concentrates on recent and current events. Events whose perpetrators are still with us. Which makes it incredibly relevant. I'm very much looking forward to reading other material from Newsinger.

[sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

read 2 years ago, for a class titled empires in historical perspective

[Sean O'Donoghue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of the stuff the Brits did in Empire which didn’t make it to the majority of books on Empire. It’s 260 page has 12 essays on different parts of empire...The Mau Mau, the Irish famine, Palestine, India, Jamaica, Indonesia etc. What it does beautifully is highlight the woeful racism at the heart of the decision making machinery...ie British officer Foran..”the machine gun was kept in action so long during this sharp engagement that it became red-hot to the touch. Before the Kisii warriors were repulsed, they left several hundred dead and wounded spearmen outside the square of bayonets. This was not so much a battle than a massacre “. Thus it was in every battle ...the British had far superior modern weaponry and in just about all instances mowed down “the enemy” without constraints, killing sometimes 100s to every of their losses.

And Winston Churchill.....”it is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr Ghandi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer,now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half naked up the steps of the vice regal lodge..to parley on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor”. How nauseating can one man get, posing as a representative of the “civilised” world.

The book also eviscerates The Labour Party’s role in Empire...Atlee’s 1945 government was just as vicious and racist as the Tories and Liberals. When a trade union leader was sentenced to death in Malaya, Attlee refused to ask for clemency.

Great and easy read.

[Asha Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly cannot articulate how enraged this book left me- Not because the book is bad, but because of the lies and sadism so deeply entrenched in English history, yet so blithely ignored by historians and curricula.

That practices expected of the Gestapo were carried out by the British Empire well into the 19th century is, while not unfathomable given the Empire's history, certainly nauseating, the fact that not one single politician has been held to account, that we allow people to bask in the nostalgia of the Empire's 'glory days' without second thought- All of it is just abhorrent.

That without fail, the British Labour Party's policies and actions have left as many dead, traumatised, mutilated, deprived, as any dictatorship, should be common knowledge. That the UK's Glorious Dead were all sent off not to fight fascism, but to maintain a crumbling empire- and in vain- should be a widely accepted view. That every single Prime Minister should be hanged for their treatment of citizens of 'their' empire, inarguable. Instead politicians and royalty alike are lionised, deified even. It's sick.

The only minuscule comfort in all of this is the abasement of Westminster at the hands of the USA since WW2- Something Tories and New Labour alike will know and choke on.

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newsinger's book is definitely not an introduction to the British empire. Nor is it actually a people's history, if by people's history one means using Zinn's methodology. But just as Zinn's work helps one to see American history from a new and more honest vantage point, Newsinger's book plugs into British history and gives readers insight into British colonialism and resistance to it whether in Kenya or India or Palestine or Egypt. It's not expansive, but the book offers readers the ability to compare British interests in various contexts as well as their strategy for oppressing people and robbing them of their resources. While the people's history element is a bit muted, those whose voices are loudest in the volume are former British military men, and at times their wives or other similar types of witnesses, all of whom narrate the atrocities they committed or participated in in one way or another. For anyone interested in imperialism or British history this book is definitely a must read.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not often that I read a book that sickens me to the stomach. This one did. So much so that I don't really want to write a full review. Just to say that if you are interested in the British Empire you should read this book, if only as balance for the many more "traditional" accounts.

Just want to mention one thing. I always assumed the Attlee government (probably the most Left wing government the UK has ever elected) gave India and Pakistan independence on the basis of principle. I was wrong. They would have held on if they could, but it just wasn't practical due to lack of military and economic power - they had no realistic choice.

Frankly, one of the lessons from this book is that when it comes to imperialism, the record of Liberal and Labour governments is no better than that of the Tory ones. Which is quite thought-provoking in itself.

[Isabelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Arguably enlightening, and a great step back from apologist histories of the British Empire, but its not exactly extensive. It picks only the most well known British atrocities, and doesn't analyse them in any great depth. To call it a people's history is somewhat misrepresenting itself. It is still primarily concerned the actions of British officials and the overall movements they came up against. A much better example of a people's history on a similar topic would be Caroline Elkin's Britain's Gulag. Also, he writes with the kind of haughty and superior tone which is hard to take after the first few chapters.

[Jo Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise overview of the history of the British Empire that builds up a devastating picture of the crimes committed by the British state. From the slave triangle, through the Irish famine, follow Britain's bloody footprints through Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The book could have been subtitled - and the role that the Labour Government has played. The point being to show how even when a government was domestically progressive at home, they were still war monger's abroad. A good overview that whets your appetite for more.

[Tom Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had read this when I was at Uni a long time ago.
I would have opened my eyes to the true horrors of the British Empire and acknowledged the rose tinted version of British History we were fed by the Scottish education system.
Years of studying the horrors of Nazi Germany but nothing about the genocide Britain committed through out Africa and Asia and beyond. This book lays it all out in detail.

[Vincent · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first book in a very long time that I did not finish and I do not intend to finish. While the subject matter is important, this book is written with a very clear marxist bias and most of the text consists of quoting different authors.

[Priyam Roy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Basically a summarized version of experiences people had being ruled by the British, compacted in a book with ridiculous amounts of errors. The ones that come to mind: the date of Indian independence, and the number of people murdered in Jallianwala Bagh being well off. It becomes hard to trust the rest of the book after such mistakes, a better alternative to read would be Inglorious Empire by Shashi Tharoor.

[Leihani Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

this doesn’t need much of a review, but it is so instrumental to the glaring violence of the British Empire in every situation and environment, it’s a clause to its power.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important read if you know nothing about the atrocities of empire. Bit too concise if you're looking for some deeper analysis of empire's legacy. Would have been interesting to have a conclusion about how empire is thought about now and current public opinion rather than a rant (though thoroughly justified) about New Labour.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant Book which brings to light the darker side of the British Empire.

[hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise look at the rebellions and moments of British colonialism which are often forgotten.

[Sahand Mozaffari · Rating 4 out of 5]

As gut-wrenching as advertised.

[Garret Giblin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newsinger makes a strong case that the invasion of Iraq represents a continuation of, rather than any sort of break with, the Labour party's historical position on imperialism

[Colonel Sir Cedric Wycliffe-Hawthorne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for The Blood Never Dried: A People’s History of the British Empire by John Newsinger

John Newsinger’s The Blood Never Dried: A People’s History of the British Empire offers a searing critique of the British Empire, challenging the more traditional view of the empire as a force for good. Newsinger takes readers through the darker chapters of imperial history, focusing on the brutal and often violent nature of British colonialism. The book challenges the narrative of a benevolent empire and exposes the true costs of imperial dominance.

Key Themes and Insights:
• Imperial Violence and Oppression: Newsinger places a strong emphasis on the violence that underpinned the British Empire’s expansion, focusing on events such as the Irish Famine, the Opium Wars, and the brutal suppression of revolts in colonies like India and Kenya. The book highlights the stark contrast between the empire’s claims of benevolence and the reality of exploitation and abuse.
• Resistance and Rebellion: A significant portion of the book is dedicated to the stories of the colonized peoples who fought against British rule. The text emphasizes the various uprisings and resistance movements, providing a people’s perspective that is often overlooked in traditional historical accounts.
• The British Empire’s Global Impact: Newsinger also delves into the far-reaching consequences of British imperialism on global trade, geopolitics, and cultural exchanges. The British Empire’s involvement in the opium trade and the brutal subjugation of peoples in places like Africa and India are central to the narrative, presenting a critique of the empire’s economic and political motives.
• The Empire’s Legacy: One of the book’s most compelling arguments is that the legacy of British imperialism continues to impact former colonies, and this history must be confronted and understood to fully grasp the modern world’s inequalities.

Final Verdict:

The Blood Never Dried provides a detailed and critical account of the British Empire, focusing on its exploitation and violence rather than the glorified versions of British colonial history. Newsinger does an excellent job of highlighting the suffering of colonized peoples while critiquing the economic, political, and cultural mechanisms that perpetuated the empire. While some may find Newsinger’s tone to be confrontational, this book is essential for those seeking a more honest and unflinching look at British imperial history.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) — A well-researched and thought-provoking work that challenges conventional narratives of the British Empire’s benevolence, but could benefit from further depth in some areas.

[Siobhan Markwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A no-hold-barred survey of the brutality that underpinned British imperial hegemony, the title, the Blood Never Dried, references a Chartist's wry adaptation of the infamous claim that the sun never set on the British Empire. In accessible, well-written chapters Newsinger, Professor of History at Bath Spa University, guides us through outrages perpetrated by soldiers of the realm in Jamaica, Ireland, India, the Middle East, Malaya and Kenya.

Brutal suppression of slave rebellion in Jamaica allowed the British Industrial Revolution and the development of critical infrastructure to proceed. In India, the suppression of the uprising we call the "mutiny" involved men, women and children being decapitated on a vast scale with majestic ancient trees across the territory being decorated with hundreds of gruesome corpses. Closer to home, a complete failure to mitigate the devastating effects of the Irish Famine caused spurned mass migration. Bloody Sunday is one outrage that competes for the title of most shameful episode in British rule across the Irish Sea.

The Opium Wars were a Chinese humiliation that provides fertile soil for the current parlous relations between powers whose global significance has reversed. British policy in the former territories of the Ottoman Empire started a violent tradition of reprisals against the civilian population including the razing of villages and scorched earth campaigns that led to famine and disease. Newsinger traces the evolution of British Foreign policy in the region from main perpetrator and economic exploiter to willing lapdog in an equally brutal and self-serving regional policy prosecuted by the US. As recently as the 1950s in Kenya, torture, mutilation and castration served as disincentives for local populations to avail themselves of the protection of trades unions.

This is essential reading for anyone willing to challenge the sadly resurgent view that the Empire really wasn't that bad and brought law and civilisation to benighted lands.

[Geoff Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a necessary corrective to a common if not mainstream view of the British Empire as having had a positive civilising global influence.

The title gives away the extent of the brutal savagery of the UK state's impact on the world, in the past and continuing into the present day, as we see in the devastation of Gaza being committed by an Israeli state supported by the USA, the UK and the EU.

The book chronicles, with extensive evidence, the extraction of wealth and resources from other countries by the UK state, the exploitation of labour, the genocidal starvation of certain populations, the oppression of peoples, the coldblooded policies of torture, abuse, collective punishment and other war crimes perpetrated with full knowledge of UK governments of all stripes, with Labour governments being almost as venal and inhumane as any other.

Post WW2, the only real change is that instead of acting as a major imperial power in its own right, UK governments nowadays act as the supplicant sidekick of the mighty US government, using military support actions to reaffirm allegiance of the so-called "special relationship".

[LC · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's harder to review non fiction history books, especially when the content is so grizzly, but this book outlines a huge amount of the crimes of imperialism. I'm not proud to say that I was unaware of the majority of the content- I did have a vague understanding of the empire's control but largely from the perspective of the Scottish schooling system. It is, frankly, pro empire propaganda that can be found in the glossing-over of historical events as they truly happended and I'm thankful to Newsinger for penning this very thoroughly cited work. It took me a long time to read as I have it on my phone and I struggle with reading long form content on anything other than paper but it was a gripping read and definitely necessary for a more rounded understanding of how truly destructive, proud, duplicitous and fascist the British empire has been and continues to be today.