Imperial Island
A History of Empire in Modern Britain
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Imperial Island
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Narrated by:
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Charlotte Lydia Riley
About this listen
This riveting new history tells the story of Britain's journey from imperial power to a nation divided.
After the Second World War, Britain's overseas empire disintegrated. But over the next seventy years, empire came to define Britain and its people as never before.
From immigration and race riots to the Suez Crisis and the Falklands War, from the simplistic moral equation of Band Aid to the invasion of Iraq, the imperial mindset has dominated Britain's relationship with itself and the world. In the tragedy of Stephen Lawrence, in Britain's response to radical Islam, even in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, we see how this contradictory relationship has undermined its self-image as a multicultural nation, helping explain the Windrush deportations and Brexit.
Drawing on a mass of new research, from personal letters to pop culture, Imperial Island tells a story of immigration and fractured identity, of social strife and communal solidarity, of people on the move and of a people wrestling with their past. It is the story that best explains Britain today.
Critic Reviews
"Incisive, important, and incredibly timely. With a discerning eye for historical detail and a gift for storytelling, Riley traces the arc of empire's post-World War II influence on Britain and the nation's relationship to the world. Imperial Island is an urgent and necessary account for anyone wanting to understand how Britain became the nation it is today." (Caroline Elkins, author of Legacy of Violence)
"In Imperial Island, Charlotte Lydia Riley shows us that Empire's legacy is soaked into Britain's landscapes and built into its cities. From immigrant woes and racial tensions to the way in which imperial mindsets still colour relations among black, white and brown Britons, Empire is inescapably in the country's national DNA. An eye-opening study of the Empire within." (Shashi Tharoor, author of Inglorious Empire)
"Charlotte Lydia Riley radically retells a stale old story in her clear, bold, refreshing voice. Skilfully, inexorably and powerfully, she builds up a picture that's been hiding in plain sight for far too long." (Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces and author of Agatha Christie)