Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modern World
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Review
`I was hugely impressed by the sheer quality of his analysis and lucid writing, not least because he made the subject feel so alive, and by his systematic rebuttal of those who seek to whitewash our empire, or worse, wish to see the US adopt a modernised version of it, despite the anti-imperial spirit of that country. I learned something new on virtually every page of his fine book, a reflection of the depth and rigour of his research. His pen portraits of leading imperialists are superbly achieved. I was also constantly aware that the book is by a practicing politician, rather than an academic, and enjoyed the realism of his take on each of his chosen examples. I believe he will have a deserved success with it.' --Michael Burleigh
'Well-written, witty, but above all fair-minded, this is the best general overview of the British Empire to appear in years. Kwasi Kwarteng has emerged as a significant scholar on the historical scene.' --Andrew Roberts
`Smart, witty and personable. And he has written as provocative and personal book about the British Empire as has been published for some time...grand and colourful certainly sums up Kwarteng's approach to his subject. He is a gifted pen-portraitist. This is a book about a motley crew, and it is alive with wild and wonderful characters...an excellent and very readable new contribution to the debate. This is a cracking debut from a very accomplished historian'
--Dan Jones Daily Telegraph, August 13 2011
'Kwarteng takes an amusing and mostly well-written tour d'horizon through six former colonies'
--Sholto Byrnes, Independent on Sunday, August 14, 2011
`Lucid and provocative...well researched and crisply written...a refreshing change from the flow of popular books maintaining that British imperialists were either blood-crazed villains or saintly liberals'
--Dominic Sandbrook Sunday Times, August 14, 2011
'a fascinating and subtle book.' --Daily Telegraph, Monday 29th August 2011
'Witty and cool, it is immune to nostalgia, and in the end rather angry. That anger is to it's author's credit.' --The Economist, Saturday 3rd September 2011
'Whilst lamenting the consequences of our preference for "character" over policy, Kwarteng has produced a highly readable book, not least because of its cast of willful, perverse or semi-crazed figures who exercised power without responsibility in the build-up and downfall of empire. With his unusual background, the author knows whereof he speaks. The reaction of his political colleagues will be interesting.'
--The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 31st July 2011
'Well-written, witty, but above all fair-minded, this is the best general overview of the British Empire to appear in years. Kwasi Kwarteng has emerged as a significant scholar on the historical scene.' --Andrew Roberts
`Smart, witty and personable. And he has written as provocative and personal book about the British Empire as has been published for some time...grand and colourful certainly sums up Kwarteng's approach to his subject. He is a gifted pen-portraitist. This is a book about a motley crew, and it is alive with wild and wonderful characters...an excellent and very readable new contribution to the debate. This is a cracking debut from a very accomplished historian'
--Dan Jones Daily Telegraph, August 13 2011
'Kwarteng takes an amusing and mostly well-written tour d'horizon through six former colonies'
--Sholto Byrnes, Independent on Sunday, August 14, 2011
`Lucid and provocative...well researched and crisply written...a refreshing change from the flow of popular books maintaining that British imperialists were either blood-crazed villains or saintly liberals'
--Dominic Sandbrook Sunday Times, August 14, 2011
'a fascinating and subtle book.' --Daily Telegraph, Monday 29th August 2011
'Witty and cool, it is immune to nostalgia, and in the end rather angry. That anger is to it's author's credit.' --The Economist, Saturday 3rd September 2011
'Whilst lamenting the consequences of our preference for "character" over policy, Kwarteng has produced a highly readable book, not least because of its cast of willful, perverse or semi-crazed figures who exercised power without responsibility in the build-up and downfall of empire. With his unusual background, the author knows whereof he speaks. The reaction of his political colleagues will be interesting.'
--The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 31st July 2011
Review
'Well-written, witty, but above all fair-minded, this is the best general overview of the British Empire to appear in years. Kwasi Kwarteng has emerged as a significant scholar on the historical scene' Andrew Roberts 'I was hugely impressed by the sheer quality of Kwasi Kwarteng's analysis and lucid writing, not least because he made the subject feel so alive. I learned something new on virtually every page of this fine book, a reflection of the depth and rigour of his research. His pen portraits of leading imperialists are superbly achieved' Michael Burleigh
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Kwasi Kwarteng's brilliant book Ghosts of Empire deserves the fantastic reviews it has received from the Sunday Times to the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph. By focusing each section on different areas of the British Empire the reader is able to get a thoughtful overview of the conflicting policies and Kwarteng skillfully provides the rationale for British occupation, the key policies employed by the colonial administrators and then reviews the countries' fate since independence in a very succinct manner - no mean feat given the geography and timelines covered! The quirky facts and personal stories of the leaders involved bring the story alive and often provide a real insight into the social context and norms of the day. By not simply arguing for or against Britain's colonial past, Kwarteng adds an interesting dimension to the debate on Britain's legacy and with that context for the country's responsibilities today.
34 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I was influenced to buy this book by several effusive reviews. The book does not warrant such praise. Kwarteng selects 6 case studies to illustrate his theme that the formation of the British Empire lacked a coherent policy. Surely this is a truism which was recognised in the later 19th century. One reviewer (in the Guardian) enthused that he learnt something new on every page. Perhaps, but filling the volume with a plethora of interesting but gossipy facts distracted from rather than enhanced the argument. The fact that Mountbatten left Rangoon on HMS Birmingham in January 1948, the constituency that Randolph Churchill failed to win in 1885 is not 'ironic' relevent or even interesting (p205). One or two facts were dubious. Is it possible that the daily death rate for indigenous Burmese was as high as 80,000? (p195) I got the impression that the book had been rushed out. It would benefit from more focussed editing and proof reading. At one point the word 'not' is omitted!
The book needs maps! I challenge anyone to follow the narrative without the benefit of a high resolution atlas. The single map of the world hardly facilitates following the action in the Sudan or tracking the pipeline debate in inter-war Iraq. The book is saved by being an easy read but it is not a serious contribution to the historiography of empire.
The book needs maps! I challenge anyone to follow the narrative without the benefit of a high resolution atlas. The single map of the world hardly facilitates following the action in the Sudan or tracking the pipeline debate in inter-war Iraq. The book is saved by being an easy read but it is not a serious contribution to the historiography of empire.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What an enjoyable read. This is not a defence of the British Empire neither does it try to lay the ills of the world at Britians door but it does examine where we are now and how we got there. Not the whole Empire but six areas of the world that even now are in turmoil. A very helpful book in understanding why.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
review ghosts of empire
A truly excellent book equally good as jeremy paxmans empire what ruling the world did to the british. these books ought to be made compulsiry reading for british schoolchidren
Published 4 months ago by Fred
Fascinating
Well, I agree with the critic who said he learnt something new on every page. I did too, much of it radically adjusting my views on both the debit and credit side of our Imperial... Read more
Published 7 months ago by F. M. Stockdale
A Wonderful Book
A wonderful book, interesting, wry, humourous. Kwazi Kwarteng puts at centre stage the stories of men and woman who ran the British Empire, and the locals who inherited the new... Read more
Published 7 months ago by T. J. Jones
An excellent book - with one proviso!
Kwarteng's book is an overview of the British Empire, told through a series of pen portraits of the nations, characters, intrigue and wars that comprise the Empire's history. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Adam Bell
Ghosts of Empire
I read most newspaper reviews before I bought this book, therefore was not expecting anything other than what I had expected. Read more
Published 7 months ago by JR
A book I have long wanted to be written
Kwasi Kwarteng was born to Ghanaian parents who had immigrated from Ghana to London, yet despite what his background may have suggested, he would go on to be educated at Eton... Read more
Published 9 months ago by G-man
Good price
Such an easy option via Amazon! I read some fab. reviews of this book notably in Sunday Times. Wanted to buy a pressie for my husband as history is his passion. Read more
Published 9 months ago by LisL
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