Colonialism

The Sunday Times Bestseller
A new assessment of the West’s colonial record
In the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet empire in 1989, many believed that we had arrived at the ‘End of History’ – that the global dominance of liberal democracy had been secured forever.

Reviews

‘A fascinating read, informative, surprising and written with panache and clarity’ The Times, Andrew Billen
‘A thoughtful, compelling text’ Daily Telegraph, five-star review
‘A salutary corrective’ The Times, Book of the Week
‘Carries the intellectual force of a Javeline antitank missile. Colonialism is no apologia for empire… but calls for balance…Biggar acknowledges wickedness in our nation but his version of history calls us to accept the messiness and moral compromises inherent in liberalism’ Sunday Times
‘Nigel Biggar has written … the book on the morality of the British Empire, a kind of Encyclopaedia Pacis Britannicae…. a thoughtful, compelling text’ Sunday Telegraph
‘An important, timely and brave book…the first serious counter blast against the hysterical and ahistorical orthodoxy that has placed such a stranglehold on our public discourse on the British Empire, and as such will prove to be an indispensable handbook in the battles to come. It is also exceedingly well written and compellingly argued’ The Critic
‘An important book, as well as a courageous one’ Literary Review
‘Patiently argued and carefully balanced yet passionately committed to the production of a narrative which replaces denunciation and with evidences and understanding’ Quillette
‘Biggar fearlessly goes where few other scholars now venture to tread: to defend the British empire against its increasingly vitriolic detractors … Those who wish to accuse the Victorians of genocide – who seek gulags in Kenya or Holocausts in the Raj – will probably not risk being ‘triggered’ by reading this book. But they really should … Biggar’s book simply cannot be ignored by anyone who wishes to hold a view on the subject’
Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and author of Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World