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Stuff the British Stole
In the days of the British Empire, things were taken that probably shouldn’t have been. So how come they’re still in museums, galleries and some much stranger places?
British museums are home to millions of fascinating objects. The trouble is, a whole bunch of them were stolen in wildly dodgy ways. A chance encounter with one of these items (a mechanical tiger/music box that mauls a soldier when you turn a handle) prompted journalist Marc Fennell to ‘What is that? And how the hell did it get here?’
The answer was so gloriously weird that it sent Fennell on a globetrotting adventure, investigating the most audacious criminal enterprise in history – the British Empire.
With wit, empathy and unflinching honesty, Stuff the British Stole reveals the true stories behind remarkable objects in the world’s most celebrated museums. These artifacts tell the stories of power, resistance and survival that have shaped our modern world.
Travelling from the pyramids of Egypt to the beaches where Captain Cook first landed, from Tuscan marble quarries to Kenyan torture chambers, Fennell uncovers the uncomfortable truths hidden behind the plaques. The human stories museums would rather we didn’t talk about.
Part travelogue, part true crime, part reckoning with history, this is a book about how the hell we got here.
British museums are home to millions of fascinating objects. The trouble is, a whole bunch of them were stolen in wildly dodgy ways. A chance encounter with one of these items (a mechanical tiger/music box that mauls a soldier when you turn a handle) prompted journalist Marc Fennell to ‘What is that? And how the hell did it get here?’
The answer was so gloriously weird that it sent Fennell on a globetrotting adventure, investigating the most audacious criminal enterprise in history – the British Empire.
With wit, empathy and unflinching honesty, Stuff the British Stole reveals the true stories behind remarkable objects in the world’s most celebrated museums. These artifacts tell the stories of power, resistance and survival that have shaped our modern world.
Travelling from the pyramids of Egypt to the beaches where Captain Cook first landed, from Tuscan marble quarries to Kenyan torture chambers, Fennell uncovers the uncomfortable truths hidden behind the plaques. The human stories museums would rather we didn’t talk about.
Part travelogue, part true crime, part reckoning with history, this is a book about how the hell we got here.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 23, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
September 5, 2026
This was soooooo good. I’ve never heard of his show or podcast before, but I saw an ARC at work and I’m so glad I picked it up because now I want to go on a research rampage about all the stuff he wrote about! Very informative, thought provoking and funny at the same time. I was very entertained and my brain was very stimulated. 5 stars! I’m gonna buy it as a gift for people now
October 6, 2026
Finished 06/10/2026 - it looks like this is listed as an audiobook? but I have to have it noted here, so I can remember, that I read it as a physical book
August 1, 2026
The stories were interesting but as someone who binged the show last week I was disappointed half the book was stories that weren’t new to me.
There’s definitely a formula to this concept and in the show I feel the visuals help keep things feeling fresh, but here I did find everything felt very samey. Each chapter sets up the object, explains its history/provenance and then finishes with a musing about empire and whether we can consider the object stolen. And when some lines are verbatim the same as in the show and there’s not much added I found myself skimming the ones I was familiar with. Some of the humour also didn’t really work for me.
The chapter on the Gweagal shield was the standout for me, though, it felt like it was told with a bit more care and thought than the others and made an interesting point about the mythology attached to objects and the different meanings we attribute depending on what it was that was taken.
I’d recommend this for people who haven’t encountered any of this series before and think it could act as a nice intro to the concept. Those already familiar might find it a bit repetitive like I did.
There’s definitely a formula to this concept and in the show I feel the visuals help keep things feeling fresh, but here I did find everything felt very samey. Each chapter sets up the object, explains its history/provenance and then finishes with a musing about empire and whether we can consider the object stolen. And when some lines are verbatim the same as in the show and there’s not much added I found myself skimming the ones I was familiar with. Some of the humour also didn’t really work for me.
The chapter on the Gweagal shield was the standout for me, though, it felt like it was told with a bit more care and thought than the others and made an interesting point about the mythology attached to objects and the different meanings we attribute depending on what it was that was taken.
I’d recommend this for people who haven’t encountered any of this series before and think it could act as a nice intro to the concept. Those already familiar might find it a bit repetitive like I did.
October 14, 2026
After I heard Marc Fennell speak about Stuff the British Stole at the Brisbane Writers' Festival on the weekend, I immediately bought the audiobook and started listening. I really like the curious, sincere, and humorous way Marc tells a tale.
This is a really fascinating book, and it is written in what I find to be a really straightforward, but sensitive and nuanced way. This book is political with heart. It doesn't shy from complex issues or slip into false dichotomies. I learnt so much about the objects, people, countries and contexts that each mini historical detective story navigated its way through.
All were interesting and made me think long after the chapter was done. Some made my heart hurt and stomach turn at the sheer audacity of the attitudes they revealed. So many of the stories were hard to listen to. Several made me cry.
This is a really fascinating book, and it is written in what I find to be a really straightforward, but sensitive and nuanced way. This book is political with heart. It doesn't shy from complex issues or slip into false dichotomies. I learnt so much about the objects, people, countries and contexts that each mini historical detective story navigated its way through.
All were interesting and made me think long after the chapter was done. Some made my heart hurt and stomach turn at the sheer audacity of the attitudes they revealed. So many of the stories were hard to listen to. Several made me cry.
August 26, 2026
I love pretty much everything Marc Fennell does and this is no exception. However, if you've listened to the podcast and watched the TV show, there isn't much new here.
The book comprises an introduction (set in Egypt) and conclusion (discussing Chagos) plus ten chapters: Tipu's Tiger, Looty (the Pekingese dog), Parthenon Marbles, Horus (mummified boy), Shellal Mosaic, Chalice Tree, Gweagal Shield, The Great Rubber Heist, Operation Legacy (Mau Mau), and Strange Fowle (the Dodo). The topics of these ten chapters have all been covered on the podcast or TV show (or both, in the case of the marbles).
I listened to the audiobook via the library, and I'm glad I did. If you're not based in Australia, though, and haven't been able to experience the podcast and TV show, I do highly recommend this book.
The book comprises an introduction (set in Egypt) and conclusion (discussing Chagos) plus ten chapters: Tipu's Tiger, Looty (the Pekingese dog), Parthenon Marbles, Horus (mummified boy), Shellal Mosaic, Chalice Tree, Gweagal Shield, The Great Rubber Heist, Operation Legacy (Mau Mau), and Strange Fowle (the Dodo). The topics of these ten chapters have all been covered on the podcast or TV show (or both, in the case of the marbles).
I listened to the audiobook via the library, and I'm glad I did. If you're not based in Australia, though, and haven't been able to experience the podcast and TV show, I do highly recommend this book.
August 30, 2026
If you’ve listened to the podcast and watched the show much of this will be familiar but nevertheless I throughly enjoyed this.
August 12, 2026
I listened to this on audiobook format. Read by the author.
Given the subject matter, this could have been a very dry book but the author interjected humour into it, when appropriate. But that’s not to say he by passed gravity. He, in fact, did well to approach the topic with sensitivity, thoughtfulness and respect.
Being Greek, I did find the marbles chapter hard to listen to, but that was not a reflection of the authors handling of it. Infact, I admired his skill and thoughtfulness.
My one criticism of the book is the last chapter about the dodo. It felt like the saddest chapter and to end the book on that note felt like … well, the biggest downer of all.
Given the subject matter, this could have been a very dry book but the author interjected humour into it, when appropriate. But that’s not to say he by passed gravity. He, in fact, did well to approach the topic with sensitivity, thoughtfulness and respect.
Being Greek, I did find the marbles chapter hard to listen to, but that was not a reflection of the authors handling of it. Infact, I admired his skill and thoughtfulness.
My one criticism of the book is the last chapter about the dodo. It felt like the saddest chapter and to end the book on that note felt like … well, the biggest downer of all.
July 20, 2026
unfortunately I got the critically analysis media form of neurodivergence and not the good at maths kind (sorry dad 🤪)
Marc is a great writer, and some lines really sing but I did find several chapters to not be particularly engaging or interesting stories which impacted on overall enjoyment - there were minor little stylistic quirks like calling the professors Prof so and so which also took me out of the writing.
The show is absolutely brilliant - this one just wasn’t quite totally my cup of tea ( 🍵 🇬🇧) which is more than fine
Marc is a great writer, and some lines really sing but I did find several chapters to not be particularly engaging or interesting stories which impacted on overall enjoyment - there were minor little stylistic quirks like calling the professors Prof so and so which also took me out of the writing.
The show is absolutely brilliant - this one just wasn’t quite totally my cup of tea ( 🍵 🇬🇧) which is more than fine
October 28, 2026
Such a powerful message wrapped in a collection of jovial stories. Summary: fuck the British
September 8, 2026
A book that doesn't really make sense to review through the usual "I liked it / I didn't like it" lens, because the facts of history almost never please anyone, but that doesn't change the history itself. And the story Fennell tells is that of the largest cultural looting operation humanity has ever seen, so let's just say I didn't have fun reading it, but I used it to think even more critically about the past.
One of the things I appreciated the most is the "from the point of view of the objects" approach. It's the smartest structural choice of the book because the history told through the objects is the history of those who watched their own cultural heritage uprooted and taken elsewhere. Each object is a testimony speaking for those who can no longer speak, and Fennell gives voice to these silent testimonies in a way that no academic treatise ever could.
I wasn't aware of, and was appalled by, the paradox that keeps coming back throughout the book, the one about the British Museum being unable to return anything. To me this seems the political heart of this book. The British Museum Act of 1963 forbids the museum from disposing of the objects in its collection (with very few exceptions), and this law has become the perfect shield the institution hides behind. The logic is as simple as it is hypocritical: if they returned anything, they would implicitly admit the theft, and with it all the devastation, destruction and death the British Empire caused to entire peoples and cultures. They would also create a precedent, and open Pandora's box, for any other institution to return artifacts that are not theirs. Not returning, on the other hand, is presented as a neutral technical constraint, almost as if the museum were powerless in front of its own collection. It's a masterpiece of institutional hypocrisy: I create a law, I use it to avoid doing what I don't want to do, and then I blame the law itself. A double slap in the face for all those who saw pieces of their own culture stolen from them.
Something I enjoyed is that each chapter is self-contained, which is handy if you read it in bits, but I also must admit that it takes away from the book the chance to build a more organic analysis of the colonial system as a whole. Fennell isn't a historian and doesn't claim to be one, fair enough, but precisely for this reason the book misses the opportunity to connect the objects into a broader thesis about the political economy of colonial plunder. It remains a great entry point into the topic, though.
I see it as a necessary book, written in the right style for a very heavy subject, and one whose reading makes everyone much more aware about the past. And that, in the end, is what a good history book should do.
One of the things I appreciated the most is the "from the point of view of the objects" approach. It's the smartest structural choice of the book because the history told through the objects is the history of those who watched their own cultural heritage uprooted and taken elsewhere. Each object is a testimony speaking for those who can no longer speak, and Fennell gives voice to these silent testimonies in a way that no academic treatise ever could.
I wasn't aware of, and was appalled by, the paradox that keeps coming back throughout the book, the one about the British Museum being unable to return anything. To me this seems the political heart of this book. The British Museum Act of 1963 forbids the museum from disposing of the objects in its collection (with very few exceptions), and this law has become the perfect shield the institution hides behind. The logic is as simple as it is hypocritical: if they returned anything, they would implicitly admit the theft, and with it all the devastation, destruction and death the British Empire caused to entire peoples and cultures. They would also create a precedent, and open Pandora's box, for any other institution to return artifacts that are not theirs. Not returning, on the other hand, is presented as a neutral technical constraint, almost as if the museum were powerless in front of its own collection. It's a masterpiece of institutional hypocrisy: I create a law, I use it to avoid doing what I don't want to do, and then I blame the law itself. A double slap in the face for all those who saw pieces of their own culture stolen from them.
Something I enjoyed is that each chapter is self-contained, which is handy if you read it in bits, but I also must admit that it takes away from the book the chance to build a more organic analysis of the colonial system as a whole. Fennell isn't a historian and doesn't claim to be one, fair enough, but precisely for this reason the book misses the opportunity to connect the objects into a broader thesis about the political economy of colonial plunder. It remains a great entry point into the topic, though.
I see it as a necessary book, written in the right style for a very heavy subject, and one whose reading makes everyone much more aware about the past. And that, in the end, is what a good history book should do.
October 3, 2026
Informative and done in a fun way!
September 23, 2026
“History is an unreliable discipline.”
The title made me laugh, the book itself made me sad. I thought I’d learn about random items the British stole throughout colonisation, and I did. The British stole some interesting and odd objects (a Pekingese dog for Queen Victoria looted from Beijing. Interestingly named Looty). But I was also was reminded of the lives, culture, language and history stolen. Things you won’t obviously find in the British museum. I learned interesting stories from many colonial countries (even the one I live on). Boy Horus from Egypt, a shield taken from an Indigenous Australian warrior, rubber from Brazil. I never thought of how spears looted as keepsakes from a tribe can disrupt their way of nourishment, or taking rubber seeds from a country that has it as one of their biggest exports can completely disrupt their economy. I love learning and I learned a lot from this book.
Oh, and don’t get me started on the side note included on what King Leopold did omg.
The title made me laugh, the book itself made me sad. I thought I’d learn about random items the British stole throughout colonisation, and I did. The British stole some interesting and odd objects (a Pekingese dog for Queen Victoria looted from Beijing. Interestingly named Looty). But I was also was reminded of the lives, culture, language and history stolen. Things you won’t obviously find in the British museum. I learned interesting stories from many colonial countries (even the one I live on). Boy Horus from Egypt, a shield taken from an Indigenous Australian warrior, rubber from Brazil. I never thought of how spears looted as keepsakes from a tribe can disrupt their way of nourishment, or taking rubber seeds from a country that has it as one of their biggest exports can completely disrupt their economy. I love learning and I learned a lot from this book.
Oh, and don’t get me started on the side note included on what King Leopold did omg.
July 1, 2026
I just can’t believe how much stuff the British stole!
September 21, 2026
5 Stars
Excellent history of a collection of stolen items and their significance. I appreciated the nuanced take and how varied the items were, plus I learnt a couple of things I hadn’t already known.
Excellent history of a collection of stolen items and their significance. I appreciated the nuanced take and how varied the items were, plus I learnt a couple of things I hadn’t already known.
September 18, 2026
I loved this book and Marc's conversational writing style. The television series is compelling; the book provides more of the background to each topic.
Who knew that Lewis Carroll put a dodo into the tea party into his book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, after seeing a partial dodo skull at the Museum of Natural History?
That Queen Victoria had a Pekingese dog, part of the loot from the Opium Wars (and that's a whole, other story) and named it Looty?
Very highly recommended.
Who knew that Lewis Carroll put a dodo into the tea party into his book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, after seeing a partial dodo skull at the Museum of Natural History?
That Queen Victoria had a Pekingese dog, part of the loot from the Opium Wars (and that's a whole, other story) and named it Looty?
Very highly recommended.
September 18, 2026
A great book relaying parts of history that need to be told.
September 12, 2026
I really enjoyed the series, so was interested to read the book.
I like Fennell's POV and voice, some may not, but I found him engaging and an interesting storyteller. He also tells both sides of the story in a factual non judgemental way and how things may not be as they appear.
For the topic and style, a great introduction to colonialism and conversation starter.
You can tell he's passionate about the subject, and I did enjoy his asides and sense of humour in what could be a dry subject.
I look forward to his next project.
I like Fennell's POV and voice, some may not, but I found him engaging and an interesting storyteller. He also tells both sides of the story in a factual non judgemental way and how things may not be as they appear.
For the topic and style, a great introduction to colonialism and conversation starter.
You can tell he's passionate about the subject, and I did enjoy his asides and sense of humour in what could be a dry subject.
I look forward to his next project.
September 14, 2026
Engaging and entertaining
September 1, 2026
“The sun will finally set on the British Empire.” Best quote!
For such a dry topic, this is delivered in a surprisingly entertaining way. I genuinely found myself fascinated by this, weirdly enough, while also getting increasingly frustrated by the parade of tone deaf people who refuse to return stolen artefacts that never belonged to them in the first place.
I visited the British Museum back in 2018 and kept commenting on how there was barely anything actually British there. Historically, they really were a boring bunch of people if their greatest contribution was going around stealing everyone else’s stuff.
And the mummy parties held in London? Extremely weird. The historical obsession with treating other cultures’ remains and artefacts as entertainment is genuinely bizarre.
A surprisingly entertaining read about a topic I didn't expect to be this invested in!
For such a dry topic, this is delivered in a surprisingly entertaining way. I genuinely found myself fascinated by this, weirdly enough, while also getting increasingly frustrated by the parade of tone deaf people who refuse to return stolen artefacts that never belonged to them in the first place.
I visited the British Museum back in 2018 and kept commenting on how there was barely anything actually British there. Historically, they really were a boring bunch of people if their greatest contribution was going around stealing everyone else’s stuff.
And the mummy parties held in London? Extremely weird. The historical obsession with treating other cultures’ remains and artefacts as entertainment is genuinely bizarre.
A surprisingly entertaining read about a topic I didn't expect to be this invested in!
August 30, 2026
I enjoyed this much more than the tv show but it also left me very sad thinking about all the colonial era death and destruction.
July 22, 2026
"The sun will finally set on the British Empire."
That is a good line Mark and I'm glad you finally got to say it even though you weren't allowed near Diego Garcia Island (an island I knew nothing about until now). I know of Mark Fennell from the days of his tech and movie news on Triple J but then I got old and am deep within my parenting years, so I missed that he had a podcast and TV show all about Stuff the British stole. I'll have to search that out because I’m sure the kids will like it too.
The book was of course amazing. I'm a history lover through and through and don't get me started how they don't really teach history in public primary school in Australia. I surprisingly had a great history upbringing in my schooling in Chicago for the first half of my life. So obviously I was drawn to this book at the library.
It covers things you might already be aware of like the robbery of the Greek antiquities that were later brought to the British museum and the decades of debate as to whether they should be returned.
The book moves from familiar controversies to lesser-known stories about the Mount Keefe Chalice to a history of rubber trees, Opium War, the Oxford dodo, the atrocities in Kenya, the Belgian Congo and Diego Garcia island.
For anyone who loves history or to better understand the stories hidden behind museum plaques, this is a compelling and thought-provoking read.
That is a good line Mark and I'm glad you finally got to say it even though you weren't allowed near Diego Garcia Island (an island I knew nothing about until now). I know of Mark Fennell from the days of his tech and movie news on Triple J but then I got old and am deep within my parenting years, so I missed that he had a podcast and TV show all about Stuff the British stole. I'll have to search that out because I’m sure the kids will like it too.
The book was of course amazing. I'm a history lover through and through and don't get me started how they don't really teach history in public primary school in Australia. I surprisingly had a great history upbringing in my schooling in Chicago for the first half of my life. So obviously I was drawn to this book at the library.
It covers things you might already be aware of like the robbery of the Greek antiquities that were later brought to the British museum and the decades of debate as to whether they should be returned.
The book moves from familiar controversies to lesser-known stories about the Mount Keefe Chalice to a history of rubber trees, Opium War, the Oxford dodo, the atrocities in Kenya, the Belgian Congo and Diego Garcia island.
For anyone who loves history or to better understand the stories hidden behind museum plaques, this is a compelling and thought-provoking read.
August 20, 2026
I listened to this as an Audiobook and it made for a really enjoyable read/listen. It’s narrated by the Author, so we get to hear the book as he wants it read. 📚
This book had the potential to be very boring and dry, it was anything but! Super witty and captivating aswell, I found myself listening to it any chance I got. 🗿
I really enjoyed it and if you like Historical Artefacts or have ever wondered how a specific item ended up in a museum, then this book is for you! (highly recommended the audiobook)📜
This book had the potential to be very boring and dry, it was anything but! Super witty and captivating aswell, I found myself listening to it any chance I got. 🗿
I really enjoyed it and if you like Historical Artefacts or have ever wondered how a specific item ended up in a museum, then this book is for you! (highly recommended the audiobook)📜
August 24, 2026
Marc Fennell remains one of my favourite ever storytellers. What a treat to get this in podcast, documentary, AND book form!
August 3, 2026
After being so disappointed with the angle that Angertainment by Ed Coper chose to take to analyse a situation, I was suspicious about how this book would go. Despite this, I went for it anyway and actually ended up really enjoying it! The author struck a good balance between modern opinions and those of the time particular items / situations were taken / occurring. I liked it!
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July 5, 2026Fantastic book, informative yet entertaining:)
Enjoyed the sensitivity that Marc Fennell approaches topics, especially Indigenous objects that were stolen.
Not a fan of the British government and authorities before reading the book my loathing for them has increased.
Enjoyed the sensitivity that Marc Fennell approaches topics, especially Indigenous objects that were stolen.
Not a fan of the British government and authorities before reading the book my loathing for them has increased.
July 17, 2026
A powerful showcase of outstanding research and nuanced, compelling storytelling.
July 21, 2026
3.75 rounded up for goodreads.
I especially loved the Dodo chapter
I especially loved the Dodo chapter
August 3, 2026
I personally haven’t watched the series yet, so this was entirely novel to me and I learnt a lot!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews