Legacy of Violence
A History of the British Empire
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Legacy of Violence
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Narrated by:
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Adam Barr
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By:
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Caroline Elkins
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian: a searing study of the British Empire that interrogates the pervasive use of violence throughout the 20th century and traces how these practices were exported, modified and institutionalised in colonies around the globe.
Sprawling across a quarter of the world's land mass and claiming nearly 500 colonial subjects, Britain's empire was the largest empire in human history. For many, it epitomised our nation's cultural superiority, but what legacy have we delivered to the world?
Spanning more than 200 years of history, Caroline Elkins reveals evolutionary and racialised doctrines that espoused an unrelenting deployment of violence to secure and preserve British imperial interests. She outlines how ideological foundations of violence were rooted in Victorian calls for punishing Indigenous peoples who resisted subjugation and how over time, this treatment became increasingly institutionalised. Elkins reveals how, when violence could no longer be controlled, Britain retreated from its empire, whilst destroying and hiding incriminating evidence of its policies and practices.
Drawing on more than a decade of research on four continents, Legacy of Violence implicates all sides of the political divide regarding the creation, execution and cover-up of imperial violence. By demonstrating how and why violence was the most salient factor underwriting both the empire and British imperial identity, Elkins upends long-held myths and sheds new light on empire's role in shaping the world today.
©2022 Caroline Elkins (P)2022 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Legacy of Violence
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 29-08-24
Very good on the reality
This destroyed the cosy narrative of the British empire and exposed the horrendous activities of the colonisers. A revelation.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stef
- 13-05-23
Should be required reading in British schools
Deep research, put together in a forensic case for the criminality of the British Empire. Quite why there are still people who defend the Empire is mystifying. The cruelty, the evil, and the belief in British exeptionalism leading to treating "subjects of the empire" (victims of colonialism) as inferior, are disgusting.
Some of the book is disturbing listening, as it details British abuse, so beware.
I marked the performance down for the many obvious glaring mispronunciations,
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- AC
- 25-06-23
Well researched, not well read, quite a slog.
First of all, why is a book written by a woman narrated by a man? When men doninate academic fields, this seems like an effort to minimise womens' work further.
I found the narration grating and the tone a bit too American entertainment / presenter voice for the gravity of the topic.
But it is incredibly well researched and a much needed expose of the horrors of the Empire. As such it is not an easy read and I found I had to keep listening to other things for a while to break it up. It is very long but maybe that was necessary to provide a comprehensive critique. It was a hard slog, but worth it. I learned a lot and had my opinions on the Empire utterly vindicated. I have a much greater understanding of the Palestine-Israel conflict too.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Josh
- 05-02-23
Torn
An outstanding account of the darkest moments in the empires history. The epilogue however is rife with biases and assumptions of racism in modern British that are quiet easily countered with many alternative perceptions.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- HGJohn
- 27-02-23
Essential History
There are few history books that can be regarded as essential reading. This is one. Elkins shows how the British Empire, in case after case, colony after colony, built on laws of repression, methods of torture and dubious dissembling, to try to hold on to its crumbling edifice.
A note on the performance: it is excellent , but delivered in an American accent (the. author is, after all, a Harvard Professor). Would the book’s searing message have been even more powerful if delivered in an English RP style accent?
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- MR T E KELLOW
- 22-04-23
A devastating indictment of the British Empire
Superbly written and researched. 31 hours of irrefutable evidence against anyone still proud of empire
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. Mark Vincent French
- 12-07-23
Amazing
I wrongly though I was w
Ell informed about the British e
Moire.An amazing piece of historical research.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- L. JAMES
- 01-09-22
Disturbing
This was an amazing peice of work and i believe it should be required listening/reading for anyone who requires a comprehensive insight into the colonial policies of the british empire. At times i found myself thinking...did this really happen? so sickened i was by what was being recounted sometimes in quite explicit detail.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Arkhidamos
- 26-10-22
Slow burner but ultimately devastating
The British Empire was organised murder and theft for profit. This is not new. Nor is it unknown how key imperial figures (looking at you, Louis Mountbatten) were quite prepared to use one set of “natives” against another, setting up feuds that are still extant today - India and Pakistan, Kenya’s ethnic conflicts, Israel/Palestine, Cyprus. These particular examples are considered in some detail. The result of Caroline Elkins’ investigations are all the more damning because they’re not hyped up. The facts of what happened are allowed to speak for themselves. This is yet another book I’ve added to my “get it in physical form” list because there’s bits of it I’ll want to dip into again and again. Between this, Paddy Docherty’s excellent “Blood and Bronze” (a history of British exploitation of West Africa prior to formal empire and then transition to formal empire), Kojo Koram’s “Uncommon Wealth” and Mike Davis’ harrowing “Late Victorian Holocausts” (all the more valuable for its inclusion of Brazil, never formally a part of the empire, showing how economic domination was just as effective), modern scholarship has really begun to push back against the jingoistic rubbish of apologists for empire in the government (Gove and company) and their minions in academia (Ferguson et al). It needs as wide an audience as possible.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Keith Ross
- 09-09-23
Excellent 👍
I loved learning about the UK'S dark past, thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it
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