Table of Contents

Foreword by Marlon James xi
A Note to the American Reader xvii
Acknowledgments xxvii
 
1. Empire Day 2.0 1
2. Imperialism and Me 15
3. Difficult History 31
4. Emotional Loot 47
5. We Are Here Because You Were There 67
6. Home and Away 88
7. World-Beating Politics 108
8. Dirty Money 125
9. The Origins of Our Racism 147
10. Empire State of Mind 171
11. Selective Amnesia 192
12. Working Off the Past 216
 
Q & A with Sathnam Sanghera 233
Notes 237
Bibliography 269
Index 321

About the Author

SATHNAM SANGHERA is the best-selling author of Empireland, Marriage Material and the memoir The Boy with the Topknot. A graduate of Christ’s College, Cambridge, a columnist and writer at The Times and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Sanghera lives in North London.

Reviews

"Empireland is brilliantly written, deeply researched and massively important. It’ll stay in your head for years.”
—John Oliver, Emmy Award-winning host of "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"

"A generously shared journey of discovery. Sanghera is a journalist in the Orwellian mold, inviting readers to witness his experiment on himself as an example of the conclusions that a decent, acerbically witty, public-school-educated Brit might arrive at after wading through the evidence of what Britain owes to empire."
—The Nation

Praise from Great Britain for Empireland

"Robust . . . an illuminating examination of the 'toxic cocktail of nostalgia and amnesia' that still hugely influences our life today"
—Guardian, "Best Books of 2021"

"A fascinating reckoning with a history of empire"
—Guardian, "Best Politics Books of 2021"

"Immensely readable . . . simultaneously personal and scholarly. [Empireland] addresses many of the questions that are now urgent subjects of public debate - such as Britain's role in the slave trade and the connections between empire and multiculturalism."
—Financial Times, "Best Books of 2021: Politics"

“Meticulously sourced . . . Sanghera’s uncompromising assessment will certainly face disapproval, especially from those who regard criticism of empire as somehow unpatriotic. But a long, hard look at such a formative period is way overdue.”
—Reuters

“There is something to be said for authors who approach the topic [of empire] in the spirit of engaged curiosity rather than didactic declamation . . . Sanghera is a deft synthesist who sifts through mounds of historical treatises and alights on visceral, often shocking details.”
—Times Literary Supplement

"A balanced and insightful study of the British empire and contemporary attitudes towards it"
—The Times

"An exposé and a reminder of how conveniently the British have rewritten the past and buried the bones of their shame . . . a necessary, uncomfortable and illuminating read."
—New Statesman

“Empireland takes a perfectly-judged approach to its contentious but necessary subject”
—Jonathan Coe, bestelling author and winner of the European Book Prize

“I only wish this book has been around when I was at school”
—Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London

“This remarkable book shines the brightest of lights into some of the darkest and most misunderstood corners of our shared history”
—James O'Brien, journalist and host of "Unfiltered with James O'Brien"