This ambitious history of the British Empire touches on everything from the Mahabharata to Marx
In ‘Time’s Monster’, author Priya Satia tells many truths long unacknowledged.
Feb 13, 2021 · 05:30 pm
British cavalry charging against Russian forces at Balaclava in 1854.
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The Relief of the Light Brigade / Public Domain
Since Niall Ferguson first published
Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World almost two decades ago, there has been a remarkable resurgence of jingoistic Empire nostalgia in Britain, a trend that has gained renewed impetus with Brexit and as part of the current so-called “culture-war”.
Take for instance the controversy over the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford, which has become an unlikely rallying point for those of a more conservative persuasion. Rhodes’ modern-day supporters insist that was a great man whose memory should be honoured, and that removing his statue would be tantamount to the erasure of history.