Shoot them to be sure

Richard Gott

  • The Oxford History of the British Empire: Vol. I: The Origins of Empire edited by William Roger Louis and Nicholas Canny
    Oxford, 533 pp, £14.99, July 2001, ISBN 0 19 924676 9
  • The Oxford History of the British Empire: Vol. II: The 18th Century edited by William Roger Louis and P.J. Marshall
    Oxford, 639 pp, £14.99, July 2001, ISBN 0 19 924677 7
  • The Oxford History of the British Empire: Vol. III: The 19th Century edited by William Roger Louis and Andrew Porter
    Oxford, 774 pp, £14.99, July 2001, ISBN 0 19 924678 5
  • The Oxford History of the British Empire: Vol. IV: The 20th Century edited by William Roger Louis and Judith Brown
    Oxford, 773 pp, £14.99, July 2001, ISBN 0 19 924679 3
  • The Oxford History of the British Empire: Vol. V: Historiography edited by William Roger Louis and Robin Winks
    Oxford, 731 pp, £14.99, July 2001, ISBN 0 19 924680 7

A new history of the British Empire might be expected to concern itself with such issues as the construction of military dictatorship through the imposition of martial law; the violent seizure and settlement of land; the genocidal destruction of indigenous peoples (and their culture and environment); the establishment of what is now called ‘institutional racism’; and the continuing coercion and induced movement of labour. The new Oxford History of the British Empire presents a more up-beat version typical of the age of Imperial sunset. An attempt to construct a positive memorial to Empire, these volumes engage only spasmodically with the ‘post-colonial’ debates of the last twenty years.

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Vol. 24 No. 8 · 25 April 2002 » Richard Gott » Shoot them to be sure (print version)
Pages 26-29 | 4289 words