British Imperial: What the Empire Wasn't

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AuthorBernard Porter
PublisherI. B. Tauris & Company
PublishedDec 18 2015
Book FormatHardcover
ISBN-139781784534455
Dimensions8.5 X 5.7 X 0.8 inches
Weight 0.8 pounds
BISAC
CategoriesHistory > Europe - Great Britain - General
LanguageEnglish

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Book Description

The British Empire is often misunderstood. Judgments of it differ widely, from broadly adulatory - a 'great' enterprise, spreading 'civilization' through the world; to the blame that is often put on it for most of the world's ills today, including racism, exploitation and the problems of the Middle East. In this provocative book, Bernard Porter argues that many of these judgments arise from some fundamental misreadings of the nature, causes and effects of British imperialism, which was a more complex, ambivalent and in some ways accidental phenomenon than it is often taken to be. Drawing on his fifty years' experience of research and writing on the subject, Porter aims to clear away many of the misconceptions that surround the story of the British Empire's rise, governance and fall; and to point some ways to a fairer (though not necessarily more favourable) assessment of it. He addresses the connections of imperialism with capitalism, racism and British domestic culture, and ends with some reflections on the modern repercussions of both the Empire itself, and the myths which have sprung up around it.

Author Bio

Academic historian, emeritus prof, author of many books, essayist, reviewer. Loving sambo (partner) of Kajsa Ohrlander, feminist and postmodernist academic. Living in Stockholm, Svartsö (an island in the Stockholm archipelago) and Hull, UK City of Culture 2017. Ex-wife Deirdre; three children, six grandchildren, two bonusbarn, and two bonusbarnbarn.

Born in Hornchurch, Essex, but consider myself a Northerner by adoption; share all their prejudices against the South. Educated Ardleigh Green Primary, Brentwood School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Resigned Fellowship there because of its admissions policy. Taught at the universities of Hull (the best), Newcastle, Yale, Sydney, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Ex-set designer for dramatics. Ex-painter. Ex-lots of things, in fact, but rather worn out now. Academic areas: modern British imperialism, xenophobia and -philia, spooks, Victorian architecture. Politics: ‘Old’ Labour. Religion: agnostic. Favourite philosopher: Karl Marx. Favourite music: Haydn, Berlioz, Elgar, Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington, Brenda Lee, the Housemartins, Ray Charles. Literature: Shakespeare, Ursula le Guin. Favourite painters: Turner, Klee, Botticelli, Frank Hampson. Other heroes: Jesus Christ (the ‘echt’ one, shorn of the ‘Christianity’); Barbara Castle; Bobby Moore; Graham Gooch; Desmond Tutu.

Other enthusiasms: architecture, especially old churches; travel (in comfort). Favourite foods: too many to name. Hence paunchy. Supporter of West Ham United and Essex County Cricket Club for 60+ years. Usually much more modestly bearded than in the pic. But just as depressed-looking.

Source: bernardjporter.com