Legacy of Violence : A History of the British Empire

A NEW YORK TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, HISTORY TODAY AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR’Masterly… This book is dynamite’ – ROBERT GILDEA, author of Empires of the Mind**Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize**A searing, landmark study of the British Empire that lays bare its pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century.

Drawing on more than a decade of research on four continents, Caroline Elkins reveals the dark heart of Britain’s Empire: a racialised, systemised doctrine of unrelenting violence, which it used to secure and maintain its interests across the globe.

When Britain could no longer maintain control over that violence, it simply retreated – and sought to destroy the evidence. Legacy of Violence is a monumental achievement that explodes long-held myths and deserves the attention of anyone who seeks to understand empire’s role in shaping the world today.

‘Not so much a history book as a book of historical significance’ BBC History Magazine’Riveting’ New Statesman ‘Crucial…as unflinching as it is gripping, as carefully researched as it is urgently necessary’ Jill Lepore, author of These Truths