Sanghera has produced a terrific sweep through the legacy of empire and it should be required reading on every school history course. Smart and insightful, this expertly structured book is full of fascinating and often troubling facts from British history, such as how Charles II helped found the Royal African Company and the racist history of fingerprinting.

Stolen History | BookTrust

As a student he worked at the Express and Star in Wolverhampton and dressed up as a " news bunny" for L! Like a manual on life and the beauty of being human and unique it’s a big cwtch in a book for all those who find the world an overwhelming place. Just about everyone I know is talking about empire and that’s because of Empireland… It feels like a huge step. It’s an exposé and a reminder of how conveniently the British have rewritten the past and buried the bones of their shame. It was really racist, but at other times, British people in India were getting married to brown people in India and they had quite liberal attitudes.Every 10-year-old I know is highly opinionated and they are able to deal with the idea that there are conflicting views. You can only begin to address problems as big as those we face if you are clear in your thinking about what those problems are, and where they come from.

Stolen History: The truth about the British Empire and how it

As the author says, we are not generally taught about the British Empire in school and he is right, I wasn’t. Lots of conversations about the British Empire involve at least one person getting very upset or shouting, and another person getting very defensive. He is clearly, to take just one example, no fan of the East India Company but boiling down what it was to one simple explanation just isn’t possible. It will leave young readers heartbroken and angry, but full of the fiery belief that something needs to change, and that together they can be part of creating that change.Sanghera wants Britons to recognise, with him, their ‘deep and complex relationship with the world through empire’, to reclaim intimacy with the multicultural nature of a common history. My Fourth Time, We Drowned by Sally Hayden is a journalistic masterpiece, dealing in the specifics of the staggering abuse committed against the most vulnerable people on the planet. From the debate on the restitution of cultural artefacts to attitudes towards immigration, to Brexit exceptionalism, he contends we can only really move on as a nation when we learn to look our past squarely in the face. An accessible, engaging and essential introduction to the British empire for readers aged 9+, by bestselling author of Empireland, Sathnam Sanghera. More than 400 mule-loads of precious manuscripts, jewels, religious treasures and artworks were plundered from Tibetan monasteries to enrich the British Museum and the Bodleian Library.

Stolen History: The truth about the British Empire and how it Stolen History: The truth about the British Empire and how it

Empireland is clever, extremely thoughtful and surprisingly understanding even towards the kind of people whose attitudes Sanghera condemns.He attended Wolverhampton Grammar School, an independent school where he had gained a place after passing the 11+ and was funded by the government's assisted places scheme. Millions of others fought for Britain – in the second world war alone, 200,000 Indian soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured while serving in allied campaigns. The sugar and other crops produced by the enslaved made some British people very rich, but eventually, Britain accepted the trade was evil, outlawed it and took a leading role in abolishing it around the world. Temelkuran’s work cuts through easy reactions like cynicism and rage, and shows us how to engage again. In the process he discovers the truth about his father’s schizophrenia and why his mother won’t accept any English girlfriend of his.