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Legacy of violence : a history of the British Empire / Caroline Elkins.

Van Pelt Library DA16 .E55 2022
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Elkins, Caroline, author.
Contributor:
John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Great Britain.
Great Britain--Colonies--Administration--History--20th century.
Great Britain--Politics and government--20th century.
State-sponsored terrorism--Great Britain--Colonies--History--20th century.
State-sponsored terrorism.
British colonies.
Colonies--Administration.
Politics and government.
Genre:
History.
Physical Description:
x, 875 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) ; 24 cm
Place of Publication:
London : Bodley Head, 2022.
Summary:
"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"--Publisher's description.
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: pt. I AN IMPERIAL NATION
ch. 1 Liberal Imperialism
ch. 2 Wars Small and Great
ch. 3 Legalized Lawlessness
ch. 4 "I'm merely pro-British"
ch. 5 Imperial Convergence
pt. II EMPIRE AT WAR
ch. 6 An Imperial War
ch. 7 A War of Ideas
ch. 8 "Partnership"
ch. 9 Imperial Resurgence
pt. III TRYSTS WITH DESTINY
ch. 10 Glass Houses
ch. 11 Exit Palestine, Enter Malaya
ch. 12 Small Places, Close to Home
ch. 13 Systematized Violence
ch. 14 Operation Legacy.
Liberal imperialism
Wars small and great
Legalized lawlessness
"I'm merely pro-British"
Imperial convergence
An imperial war
A war of ideas
Partnership
Imperial resurgence
Glass houses
Exit Palestine, enter Malaya
Small places, close to home
Systematized violence
Operation legacy
Epilogue. Empire comes home.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Local Notes:
Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.
Other Format:
ebook version :
ISBN:
184792106X
9781847921062
OCLC:
1249080939
Publisher Number:
99990436559

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