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A new assessment of the West's colonial record

In the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet empire in 1989, many believed that we had arrived at the 'End of History' - that the global dominance of liberal democracy had been secured forever.

Now however, with Russia rattling its sabre on the borders of Europe and China rising to challenge the post-1945 world order, the liberal West faces major threats.

These threats are not only external. Especially in the Anglosphere, the 'decolonisation' movement corrodes the West's self-confidence by retelling the history of European and American colonial dominance as a litany of racism, exploitation, and massively murderous violence.

Nigel Biggar tests this indictment, addressing the crucial questions in eight chapters: Was the British Empire driven primarily by greed and the lust to dominate? Should we speak of 'colonialism and slavery' in the same breath, as if they were identical? Was the Empire essentially racist? How far was it based on the theft of land? Did it involve genocide? Was it driven fundamentally by the motive of economic exploitation? Was undemocratic colonial government necessarily illegitimate? and, Was the Empire essentially violent, and its violence pervasively racist and terroristic?

Biggar makes clear that, like any other long-standing state, the British Empire involved elements of injustice, sometimes appalling. On occasions it was culpably incompetent and presided over moments of dreadful tragedy.

Nevertheless, from the early 1800s the Empire was committed to abolishing the slave trade in the name of a Christian conviction of the basic equality of all human beings. It ended endemic inter-tribal warfare, opened local economies to the opportunities of global trade, moderated the impact of inescapable modernisation, established the rule of law and liberal institutions such as a free press, and spent itself in defeating the murderously racist Nazi and Japanese empires in the Second World War.

As encyclopaedic in historical breadth as it is penetrating in analytical depth, Colonialism offers a moral inquest into the colonial past, forensically contesting damaging falsehoods and thereby helping to rejuvenate faith in the West's future.",{"_798":960,"_800":970,"_777":971},"publisher","HarperCollins Publishers Limited",{"_798":960,"_800":805,"_777":973},"UK-B Format Paperback",{"_798":960,"_800":975,"_777":976},"onix_binding","Paperback",{"_798":960,"_800":978,"_777":979},"language","English",{"_798":960,"_800":981,"_777":982},"bic_subject","MIGRATION, IMMIGRATION & EMIGRATION",{"_798":960,"_800":984,"_777":985},"publish_date","2024-07-03",{"_798":960,"_800":987,"_777":988},"page_count","480",{"_798":814,"_800":350,"_777":815},{"_798":814,"_800":731,"_777":815},{"_798":814,"_800":817,"_777":818},{"_798":814,"_800":993,"_777":818},"onorder_wellington",{"_798":814,"_800":820,"_777":821},{"_798":814,"_800":823,"_777":996},"20/09/2026",{"_798":814,"_800":998,"_777":999},"last_received_wellington","22/04/2026",{"_798":814,"_800":826,"_777":1001},"35.0",{"_798":814,"_800":1003,"_777":1004},"price_wellington","32.0",{"_798":814,"_800":828,"_777":1006},"2",{"_798":814,"_800":1008,"_777":829},"stock_wellington",{"_798":831,"_800":832,"_777":833},{"_798":831,"_800":350,"_777":833},{"_798":831,"_800":731,"_777":1012},"World History",{"_798":831,"_800":836,"_777":747},{"_798":831,"_800":838,"_777":747},{"_798":831,"_800":1016,"_777":1017},"codes_wellington","WORHIS",{"_798":831,"_800":840,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":843,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":1021,"_777":1022},"sub_wellington","GLOBAL HISTORY",{"_798":831,"_800":845,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":847,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":1026,"_777":841},"main_wellington",{"_798":831,"_800":849,"_777":850},{"_798":831,"_800":1029,"_777":850},"web_departments_wellington",{"_798":831,"_800":852,"_777":853},{"_798":831,"_800":855,"_777":853},{"_798":831,"_800":1033,"_777":853},"department_wellington",{"_762":1035},[1036],{"_765":116,"_766":-5,"_130":1037,"_209":1038,"_768":1046,"_774":1047,"_17":1049,"_778":1050,"_780":1051},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/43581492166853",{"_1039":1040,"_1041":1042,"_130":1043,"_35":947,"_1044":1045},"altText","Colonialism: a Moral Reckoning Cover Image","height",2048,"gid://shopify/ProductImage/34873384763589","width",1335,{"_770":771,"_772":1001},[1048],{"_751":752,"_777":1049},"Default Title","9780008511678",{"_782":1052},[1053,1056],{"_785":1054},{"_787":116,"_133":1055},{"_751":347},{"_785":1057},{"_787":116,"_133":1058},{"_751":729},{"_130":1060,"_17":1061,"_742":1062,"_759":1063,"_795":1065,"_760":1134},"gid://shopify/Product/7918692597957","Inglorious Empire : What the British Did to India","inglorious-empire-what-the-british-did-to-india",{"_35":1064},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0625/6679/3413/files/Inglorious_20Empire.jpg?v=1716738268",[1066,1067,1069,1070,1072,1074,1076,1077,1079,1082,1084,1086,1089,1091,1092,-5,-5,1093,1095,1097,-5,1099,1100,1101,1102,1103,1104,1106,1108,1110,1111,1112,1114,1115,1116,1118,1119,1120,1122,1123,1124,1126,1127,1128,1129,-5,1130,1131,1132,1133],{"_798":799,"_800":17,"_777":1061},{"_798":799,"_800":802,"_777":1068},"THAROOR SHASHI",{"_798":799,"_800":805,"_777":806},{"_798":799,"_800":808,"_777":1071},"SCRIBE",{"_798":799,"_800":811,"_777":1073},"UBD",{"_798":799,"_800":958,"_777":1075},"PRH",{"_798":960,"_800":961,"_777":818},{"_798":960,"_800":17,"_777":1078},"Inglorious Empire",{"_798":960,"_800":1080,"_777":1081},"subtitle","What the British Did to India",{"_798":960,"_800":802,"_777":1083},"Shashi Tharoor",{"_798":960,"_800":967,"_777":1085},"In the eighteenth century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die from starvation.

British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes on and demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial 'gift' - from the railways to the rule of law - was designed in Britain's interests alone. He goes on to show how Britain's Industrial Revolution was founded on India's deindustrialisation, and the destruction of its textile industry.

In this bold and incisive reassessment of colonialism, Tharoor exposes to devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britain's stained Indian legacy.

'Ferocious and astonishing. Essential for a Britain lost in sepia fantasies about its past, Inglorious Empire is history at its clearest and cutting best.'
-Ben Judah, author of This Is London

'I had read only a few pages of Inglorious Empire before I thought, \"What a wonderful book this would be to teach from.\" It's witty and fast-paced, the what-ifs and what-might-have-beens set up to provoke discussion. And the author's digressions, sometimes more enthralling than the topic under discussion, raise important questions about who he is and the country that has made him.'
-Robin Jeffrey, Inside Story

'Inglorious Empire is a bracing, polemical work.'
-Christopher de Bellaigue, The New York Review of Books",{"_798":960,"_800":1087,"_777":1088},"audience","Trade",{"_798":960,"_800":970,"_777":1090},"Scribe Publications",{"_798":960,"_800":805,"_777":973},{"_798":960,"_800":975,"_777":976},{"_798":960,"_800":981,"_777":1094},"ASIAN HISTORY_INDIA",{"_798":960,"_800":984,"_777":1096},"2018-04-30",{"_798":960,"_800":987,"_777":1098},"336",{"_798":814,"_800":350,"_777":815},{"_798":814,"_800":731,"_777":815},{"_798":814,"_800":817,"_777":821},{"_798":814,"_800":993,"_777":821},{"_798":814,"_800":820,"_777":821},{"_798":814,"_800":823,"_777":1105},"31/03/2026",{"_798":814,"_800":998,"_777":1107},"17/03/2026",{"_798":814,"_800":826,"_777":1109},"37.0",{"_798":814,"_800":1003,"_777":1109},{"_798":814,"_800":828,"_777":829},{"_798":814,"_800":1008,"_777":1113},"1",{"_798":831,"_800":832,"_777":833},{"_798":831,"_800":350,"_777":833},{"_798":831,"_800":731,"_777":1117},"Indian History",{"_798":831,"_800":836,"_777":747},{"_798":831,"_800":838,"_777":747},{"_798":831,"_800":1016,"_777":1121},"INDHIS",{"_798":831,"_800":840,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":843,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":1021,"_777":1125},"ASIAN HISTORY",{"_798":831,"_800":845,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":847,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":1026,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":849,"_777":850},{"_798":831,"_800":1029,"_777":850},{"_798":831,"_800":852,"_777":853},{"_798":831,"_800":855,"_777":853},{"_798":831,"_800":1033,"_777":853},{"_762":1135},[1136],{"_765":116,"_766":-5,"_130":1137,"_209":1138,"_768":1142,"_774":1143,"_17":1049,"_778":1145,"_780":1146},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/43585885765829",{"_1039":1139,"_1041":1042,"_130":1140,"_35":1064,"_1044":1141},"Inglorious Empire : What the British Did to India Cover Image","gid://shopify/ProductImage/34883056304325",1334,{"_770":771,"_772":1109},[1144],{"_751":752,"_777":1049},"9781925713527",{"_782":1147},[1148,1151],{"_785":1149},{"_787":33,"_133":1150},{"_751":347},{"_785":1152},{"_787":116,"_133":1153},{"_751":729},{"_130":1155,"_17":1156,"_742":1157,"_759":1158,"_795":1160,"_760":1219},"gid://shopify/Product/7917070876869","Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic","knowing-what-we-know-the-transmission-of-knowledge-from-ancient-wisdom-to-modern-magic",{"_35":1159},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0625/6679/3413/files/Knowing_20What_20We_20Know.jpg?v=1716549476",[1161,1162,1164,1166,-5,1168,1169,1170,1172,1174,1176,-5,1178,1179,1181,1182,-5,1183,1185,1187,-5,-5,1189,-5,1190,1191,-5,1192,-5,1194,-5,1196,1198,-5,1200,1202,-5,1204,1206,-5,1208,1210,-5,1212,1214,-5,1215,1217,-5,1218],{"_798":799,"_800":17,"_777":1156},{"_798":799,"_800":802,"_777":1163},"WINCHESTER SIMON",{"_798":799,"_800":805,"_777":1165},"TP",{"_798":799,"_800":808,"_777":1167},"WILCOL",{"_798":799,"_800":958,"_777":956},{"_798":960,"_800":961,"_777":818},{"_798":960,"_800":17,"_777":1171},"Knowing What We Know",{"_798":960,"_800":1080,"_777":1173},"The Transmission of Knowledge: from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic",{"_798":960,"_800":802,"_777":1175},"Simon Winchester",{"_798":960,"_800":967,"_777":1177},"'A delightful compendium of the kind of facts you immediately want to share with anyone you encounter' New York Times

'An ebullient, irrepressible spirit invests this book. It is erudite and sprightly'Sunday Times

From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes--here is award-winning writer Simon Winchester's brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds.

With the advent of the internet, any topic we want to know about is instantly available with the touch of a smartphone button. With so much knowledge at our fingertips, what is there left for our brains to do? At a time when we seem to be stripping all value from the idea of knowing things - no need for maths, no need for map reading, no need for memorisation - are we risking our ability to think? As we empty our minds, will we one day be incapable of thoughtfulness?

Addressing these questions, Simon Winchester explores how humans have attained, stored and disseminated knowledge. Examining such disciplines as education, journalism, encyclopedia creation, museum curation, photography and broadcasting, he looks at a whole range of knowledge diffusion - from the cuneiform writings of Babylon to the machine-made genius of artificial intelligence, by way of Gutenberg, Google and Wikipedia to the huge Victorian assemblage of the Mundaneum, the collection of everything ever known, currently stored in a damp basement in northern Belgium.

Studded with strange and fascinating details, Knowing What We Know is a deep dive into learning and the human mind. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom? Does René Descartes' 'Cogito, ergo sum'--'I think, therefore I am', the foundation for human knowledge widely accepted since the Enlightenment--still hold?

And what will the world be like if no one in it is wise?",{"_798":960,"_800":970,"_777":971},{"_798":960,"_800":805,"_777":1180},"UK-Trade Paper",{"_798":960,"_800":975,"_777":976},{"_798":960,"_800":978,"_777":979},{"_798":960,"_800":981,"_777":1184},"KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT; SOCIAL & CULTURAL HISTORY; IMPACT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY; COGNITION & COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY; SOCIOLOGY; PHILOSOPHY: EPISTEMOLOGY & THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE",{"_798":960,"_800":984,"_777":1186},"2023-05-03",{"_798":960,"_800":987,"_777":1188},"432",{"_798":814,"_800":731,"_777":815},{"_798":814,"_800":993,"_777":821},{"_798":814,"_800":820,"_777":821},{"_798":814,"_800":998,"_777":1193},"01/05/2023",{"_798":814,"_800":1003,"_777":1195},"38.0",{"_798":814,"_800":1008,"_777":1197},"3",{"_798":831,"_800":832,"_777":1199},"World History,Media Studies,Sociology,History",{"_798":831,"_800":731,"_777":1201},"World History;Media Studies;Sociology;History",{"_798":831,"_800":836,"_777":1203},"WORHIS,MEDSTU,SOCIOL,HISTOR",{"_798":831,"_800":1016,"_777":1205},"WORHIS;MEDSTU;SOCIOL;HISTOR",{"_798":831,"_800":840,"_777":1207},"GLOBAL HISTORY,SOCIETY & CULTURE,HISTORY",{"_798":831,"_800":1021,"_777":1209},"GLOBAL HISTORY;SOCIETY & CULTURE;SOCIETY & CULTURE;HISTORY",{"_798":831,"_800":845,"_777":1211},"HISTORY,SOCIETY, CULTURE & TECHNOLOGY",{"_798":831,"_800":1026,"_777":1213},"HISTORY;SOCIETY, CULTURE & TECHNOLOGY;SOCIETY, CULTURE & TECHNOLOGY;HISTORY",{"_798":831,"_800":849,"_777":850},{"_798":831,"_800":1029,"_777":1216},"NON FICTION;NON FICTION;NON FICTION;NON FICTION",{"_798":831,"_800":852,"_777":853},{"_798":831,"_800":1033,"_777":853},{"_762":1220},[1221],{"_765":116,"_766":-5,"_130":1222,"_209":1223,"_768":1227,"_774":1228,"_17":1049,"_778":1230,"_780":1231},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/43581487317189",{"_1039":1224,"_1041":1042,"_130":1225,"_35":1159,"_1044":1226},"Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic Cover Image","gid://shopify/ProductImage/34873294028997",1328,{"_770":771,"_772":1195},[1229],{"_751":752,"_777":1049},"9780008484392",{"_782":1232},[1233,1236],{"_785":1234},{"_787":33,"_133":1235},{"_751":347},{"_785":1237},{"_787":116,"_133":1238},{"_751":729},{"_130":1240,"_17":1241,"_742":1242,"_759":1243,"_795":1245,"_760":1295},"gid://shopify/Product/10331596619973","Hero of Two Worlds","hero-of-two-worlds-the-marquis-de-lafayette-in-the-age-of-revolution",{"_35":1244},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0625/6679/3413/files/978-1-5417-3034-2.jpg?v=1790663321",[1246,1248,1250,1251,1253,-5,1255,1256,1257,1259,1261,1263,1264,1266,1268,1269,-5,1270,1272,1274,-5,1276,-5,1277,-5,1278,1279,-5,1281,-5,1282,-5,1283,1284,-5,1285,1286,-5,1287,1288,-5,1289,1290,-5,1291,-5,-5,1292,1294,-5],{"_798":799,"_800":17,"_777":1247},"Hero of Two Worlds : The Marquis De Lafayette in the Age of Revolution",{"_798":799,"_800":802,"_777":1249},"DUNCAN MIKE",{"_798":799,"_800":805,"_777":806},{"_798":799,"_800":808,"_777":1252},"******",{"_798":799,"_800":811,"_777":1254},"ADS",{"_798":960,"_800":961,"_777":818},{"_798":960,"_800":17,"_777":1241},{"_798":960,"_800":1080,"_777":1258},"The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution",{"_798":960,"_800":802,"_777":1260},"Mike Duncan",{"_798":960,"_800":967,"_777":1262},"

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A #1 ABA INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE BESTSELLER

Few in history can match the revolutionary career of the Marquis de Lafayette. Over fifty incredible years at the heart of the Age of Revolution, he fought courageously on both sides of the Atlantic. He was a soldier, statesman, idealist, philanthropist, and abolitionist.

As a teenager, Lafayette ran away from France to join the American Revolution. Returning home a national hero, he helped launch the French Revolution, eventually spending five years locked in dungeon prisons. After his release, Lafayette sparred with Napoleon, joined an underground conspiracy to overthrow King Louis XVIII, and became an international symbol of liberty. Finally, as a revered elder statesman, he was instrumental in the overthrow of the Bourbon Dynasty in the Revolution of 1830.

From enthusiastic youth to world-weary old age, from the pinnacle of glory to the depths of despair, Lafayette never stopped fighting for the rights of all mankind. His remarkable life is the story of where we come from, and an inspiration to defend the ideals he held dear.

",{"_798":960,"_800":1087,"_777":1088},{"_798":960,"_800":970,"_777":1265},"PublicAffairs",{"_798":960,"_800":805,"_777":1267},"Trade Paper",{"_798":960,"_800":975,"_777":976},{"_798":960,"_800":978,"_777":979},{"_798":960,"_800":981,"_777":1271},"EUROPEAN HISTORY_FRANCE; MILITARY HISTORY; HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS_USA_c 1700 to c 1800; BIOGRAPHY: HISTORICAL, POLITICAL & MILITARY; POLITICAL LEADERS & LEADERSHIP; AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE",{"_798":960,"_800":984,"_777":1273},"2022-09-06",{"_798":960,"_800":987,"_777":1275},"512",{"_798":814,"_800":350,"_777":815},{"_798":814,"_800":817,"_777":818},{"_798":814,"_800":820,"_777":821},{"_798":814,"_800":823,"_777":1280},"11/09/2025",{"_798":814,"_800":826,"_777":1001},{"_798":814,"_800":828,"_777":829},{"_798":831,"_800":832,"_777":833},{"_798":831,"_800":350,"_777":833},{"_798":831,"_800":836,"_777":747},{"_798":831,"_800":838,"_777":747},{"_798":831,"_800":840,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":843,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":845,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":847,"_777":841},{"_798":831,"_800":849,"_777":850},{"_798":831,"_800":852,"_777":1293},"HIS,BIO",{"_798":831,"_800":855,"_777":853},{"_762":1296},[1297],{"_765":116,"_766":-5,"_130":1298,"_209":1299,"_768":1303,"_774":1304,"_17":1247,"_778":1306,"_780":1307},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/50586420969669",{"_1039":1300,"_1041":1042,"_130":1301,"_35":1244,"_1044":1302},"Hero of Two Worlds Cover Image","gid://shopify/ProductImage/44266679337157",1356,{"_770":771,"_772":1001},[1305],{"_751":752,"_777":1247},"9781541730342",{"_782":1308},[1309,1312],{"_785":1310},{"_787":116,"_133":1311},{"_751":347},{"_785":1313},{"_787":116,"_133":1314},{"_751":729},"relatedProductsCollectionUrl","/collections/shop-all?shopify_products%5BrefinementList%5D%5Bmeta.categories.sub_merged%5D%5B0%5D=HISTORY","relatedProductsFirstSubCategory","city","columbus","actionData","errors"]

Emperor : Downfall Of An Autocrat

by Ryszard Kapuscinski