https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk Henley-on-Thames Wed, 11 Dec 2024 10:06:53 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Bell-Background-Blue-32x32.png https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk 32 32 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/the-truth-about-empire/ Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&p=41299 Sharp, authoritative essays on the dark realities of Empire and the true historian's importance for democracy, amid history's appropriation by apologists, racists and culture warriors.

]]> The Truth About Empire  comes from expert historians who believe that the truth, as far as we can pinpoint it, matters; that our decades of painstaking research make us worth listening to; and that our authority as leading professionals should count for something in today’s polarised debates over Britain’s imperial past.
In the culture wars, the public’s understanding of colonial history is continually distorted by wilful caricatures. With their fight to highlight Empire’s horrors, communities whose voices once went unheard have alienated many who would prefer a celebratory national history. The backlash, orchestrated by elements of the media, has produced a concerted denial of British imperial racism and violence-a disinformation campaign sharing both tactics and motivations with those around Covid, Brexit and climate change.
From Australia and China to India and South Africa, this essay collection is an accessible guide to the British Empire, and a shield against the assault on historical truth. The disturbing stories told in these pages, of Empire’s culture, politics and economics, show why professional research matters, when deciding what can and cannot be known about Britain’s colonial past.

]]> https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/deny-and-disavow/ Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/deny-and-disavow/ Deny and Disavow boldly confronts apologists for the British Empire (including the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretaries). Lester contends that this 'distancing, denial and disavowal policy is part of a deliberate strategy to refute the claims and resist the demands of those who want recognition and reorganisation'. His analysis draws upon thirty years of research and writing and supports BLM's call for increased awareness of the legacies of structural racism bequeathed by the British Empire.

]]> Deny and Disavow boldly confronts apologists for the British Empire (including the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretaries). Lester contends that this ‘distancing, denial and disavowal policy is part of a deliberate strategy to refute the claims and resist the demands of those who want recognition and reorganisation’. His analysis draws upon thirty years of research and writing and supports BLM’s call for increased awareness of the legacies of structural racism bequeathed by the British Empire.

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