Jacksonville Public Library

Legacy of violence, a history of the British empire, Caroline Elkins

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 689-828) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Legacy of violence

bibliography

1302865718

Caroline Elkins

a history of the British empire

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian: a searing study of the British Empire that interrogates the country's pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century and traces how these practices were exported, modified, and institutionalized in colonies around the globe. Sprawling across a quarter of the world's land mass and claiming nearly seven hundred million people, Britain's twentieth-century empire was the largest empire in human history. For many Britons, it epitomized their nation's cultural superiority, but what legacy did the island nation deliver to the world? Covering 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 the nation's imperial interests. She outlines how ideological foundations of violence were rooted in the Victorian era calls for punishing recalcitrant "natives," and how over time, its forms became increasingly systematized. And she makes clear that when Britain could no longer maintain control over the violence it provoked and enacted, it retreated from empire, destroying and hiding incriminating evidence of its policies and practices."--, Provided by publisher

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