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Imperial Island by Charlotte Lydia Riley
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Imperial Island

A History of Empire in Modern Britain
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Narrator Charlotte Lydia Riley

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Length 11 hours 31 minutes
Language English
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This riveting new history tells the story of Britain's journey from imperial power to a nation divided.

After the Second World War, Britain's overseas empire disintegrated. But over the next seventy years, empire came to define Britain and its people as never before.

From immigration and race riots to the Suez Crisis and the Falklands War, from the simplistic moral equation of Band Aid to the invasion of Iraq, the imperial mindset has dominated Britain's relationship with itself and the world. In the tragedy of Stephen Lawrence, in Britain's response to radical Islam, even in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, we see how this contradictory relationship has undermined its self-image as a multicultural nation, helping explain the Windrush deportations and Brexit.

Drawing on a mass of new research, from personal letters to pop culture, Imperial Island tells a story of immigration and fractured identity, of social strife and communal solidarity, of people on the move and of a people wrestling with their past. It is the story that best explains Britain today.

Charlotte Lydia Riley (Author, Reader)
Charlotte Lydia Riley is a historian of twentieth-century Britain at the University of Southampton, specialising in questions about empire, politics, culture and identity. Her writing has appeared in a wide range of publications including the Guardian, New Statesman, Financial Times, Washington Post and History Today. She tweets @lottelydia.

Charlotte Lydia Riley (Author, Reader)
Charlotte Lydia Riley is a historian of twentieth-century Britain at the University of Southampton, specialising in questions about empire, politics, culture and identity. Her writing has appeared in a wide range of publications including the Guardian, New Statesman, Financial Times, Washington Post and History Today. She tweets @lottelydia.

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Reviews

Incisive, important, and incredibly timely. An urgent and necessary account for anyone wanting to understand how Britain became the nation it is today Charlotte Lydia Riley radically retells a stale old story in her clear, bold, refreshing voice. Skilfully, inexorably and powerfully, she builds up a picture that's been hiding in plain sight for far too long Imperial Island is a marvellous account of how the empire made modern Britain. With an eye that ranges from popular culture to the highbrow, from high politics to the household, Charlotte Riley's book is a thought-provoking delight that absolutely everyone should read Rileyโ€™s absorbing new book โ€ฆ [is] a history of modern multicultural Britain and the myriad ways in which it has been shaped by empire and imperialism โ€ฆ Rileyโ€™s skills as a social historian are demonstrated to best effect in her use of personal testimonies, oral histories and popular culture sources to bring to life the everyday experiences of new migrants โ€ฆ The book is particularly rich on civil society campaigns against racism, and at documenting the political role played by the anti-war left in modern Britain โ€ฆ dexterously handled and carefully sourced Rileyโ€™s book โ€ฆ examin[es], with considerable skill, Britainโ€™s postwar retreat from empire โ€ฆ [and] recounts, with particular sympathy, the experiences faced by immigrants from the former empire Expand reviews
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