Theo Todman's Book Collection (Book-Paper Abstracts)

BOOK ABSTRACT:

Note

• A friend sent me a link to a YouTube video (George Monbiot - The Dark Side of British History) put out by George Monbiot (Wikipedia: George Monbiot and George Monbiot: Personal Website) that strongly suggested that the British Empire was an unmitigated disaster for the subject peoples, and that the British record made the Third Reich look virtuous (he didn't actually say this, but some commentators did).
• This is such a polarizing subject, that I though it about time that I learnt something about the Empire. As the video says, they didn’t teach us about all that wickedness at school. But they didn’t teach us anything about the Empire at school, as it had gone out of fashion in the 1960s-70s.
• So, I decided to buy – and hopefully read – a representative sample of books either supporting or repudiating the Empire to hopefully get a balanced view:-
  → "Lawrence (James) - Rise And Fall Of The British Empire"
  → "Brendon (Piers) - The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire"
  → "Paxman (Jeremy) - Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British"
  → "Ferguson (Niall) - Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World"