Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modern WorldKwasi Kwarteng is the child of parents whose lives were shaped as subjects of the British Empire, first in their native Ghana, then as British immigrants. He brings a unique perspective and impeccable academic credentials to a narrative history of the British Empire, one that avoids sweeping judgmental condemnation and instead sees the Empire for what it was: a series of local fiefdoms administered in varying degrees of competence or brutality by a cast of characters as outsized and eccentric as anything conjured by Gilbert and Sullivan. The truth, as Kwarteng reveals, is that there was no such thing as a model for imperial administration; instead, appointees were schooled in quirky, independent-minded individuality. As a result the Empire was the product not of a grand idea but of often chaotic individual improvisation. The idiosyncrasies of viceroys and soldier-diplomats who ran the colonial enterprise continues to impact the world, from Kashmir to Sudan, Baghdad to Hong Kong. |
Contents
The Spoils of | |
Rivals | |
Monarchy and Revolution | |
Saddam Hussein and Beyond | |
Land for Sale | |
The World of Sir Hari Singh | |
The Road from Mandalay | |
Twilight over Burma | |
An Imperial Hero | |
The Finest Body of Men | |
North and South | |
Indirect Rule | |
Notes | |
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Abd al-Ilah administration Africa Ali Dinar American annexation Arab army Aung San Baghdad believed Biafra Britain British Empire British government British officials British rule Burmese Cambridge cent China Chinese Churchill civil servants Colonel Colonial Office Commissioner Curzon December democracy English Faisal February Foreign Office French Gertrude Bell Goldie Governor Gulab Hari Singh Hashemite Hindu Hong Kong Ibid Igbo imperial imperialist independence India Iraq Iraq’s Iraqi Islamic January Kashmir Khartoum King Kitchener Kitchener’s Kong’s leaders letter liberal London Lord Lugard Maharaja Mahdi Mandalay Middle East military Mountbatten MSS Eur F Muslim native Nehru Nigeria northern November Nuri Nuri As-Said October Ojukwu Oxford Pakistan palace political population Prime Minister princes Rangoon Royal Royal Niger Company rulers Saddam Sardauna Saya San Secretary Sladen social Southern Srinagar Sudan Sudanese T. E. Lawrence Thibaw trade Viceroy wrote young