Imperial Island shows how empire and its ever-present aftermath have divided and defined Britain over the last seventy years.

'Masterful ... you won't look at Britain in the same way ever again' OWEN JONES

After the Second World War, Britain's overseas empire disintegrated. As white settlers from Rhodesia returned home to a country they barely recognised, Commonwealth citizens from Asia and the Caribbean migrated to a motherland that often refused to recognise them. Race riots erupted in Liverpool and Notting Hill even as communities lived and loved across the colour line. In the 1950s and 60s, imperial violence came home too, pervading the policing of immigrant communities, including their sex lives. In the decade that followed, a surge of support for the far-right inspired an invigorated anti-racist movement.

These tensions, and the imperial mindset that birthed them, have dominated Britain's relationship with itself and the world ever since: from the simplistic moral equation of Band Aid to the invasion of Iraq, in the tragedy of Stephen Lawrence and the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, we see how Britain's contradictory relationship with its past has undermined its self-image as a multicultural nation.

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.

'An eye-opening study of the empire within' SHASHI THAROOR
'Clear, bold, refreshing' LUCY WORSLEY

About the Author
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, Prospect and History Today. She also co-hosts the podcast Tomorrow Never Knows in which she and Emma Lundin discuss feminism, pop culture, politics and history. She tweets @lottelydia.

Reviews
A masterful, ingeniously written telling of Britain's real history, stripped of its sugarcoating. Read this incisive and forensic book, and you won't look at Britain in the same way ever again -- OWEN JONES
Incisive, important, and incredibly timely. An urgent and necessary account for anyone wanting to understand how Britain became the nation it is today -- Caroline Elkins, author of Legacy of Violence
Imperial Island shows us that Empire's legacy is soaked into Britain's landscapes and built into its cities and inescapably in the country's national DNA. An eye-opening study of the Empire within -- Shashi Tharoor, author of Inglorious Empire
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 -- Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces and author of Agatha Christie
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 -- Stephen Bush, columnist for the Financial Times
An immaculately detailed and impeccably researched account of what shaped Britain as we know it, following the collapse of empire. This is an urgent book and fine example of why the past, and knowledge of the past, is so important in the present -- HELEN CARR, author of The Red Prince
Riley's absorbing new book ... [is] a history of modern multicultural Britain and the myriad ways in which it has been shaped by empire and imperialism ... Riley'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 ... 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 ... dexterously handled and carefully sourced * Financial Times *
A withering indictment of cruel Britannia ... a chilling history of institutional and public prejudice ... Riley gives injustices that ought to be better known their due * Guardian *
Riley shows that attitudes to empire in Britain were always complex and contested ... provides some important corrections ... [and] charts how, in the wake of decolonisation, imperialism continued to shape life in Britain ... if the history of empire in Britain that Imperial Island tells is a very modern one, Riley shows, too, that our "history wars" have a long history of their own -- Hannah Rose Woods * New Statesman *
At a time when discussion of the subject [of empire] can quickly devolve into ill-informed polemic, this offers an extensively researched, thought-provoking alternative * History Revealed *
Riley's book ... examin[es], with considerable skill, Britain's postwar retreat from empire ... [and] recounts, with particular sympathy, the experiences faced by immigrants from the former empire * Telegraph *
Riley's prose flows smoothly, connecting the dots to give the reader the wider picture. For anyone curious about Britain's colonial legacy in the modern era, Imperial Island will certainly be an eye-opener * The National *
The familiar national story . . . is retold with the legacies of colonialism and racism front and centre. Other scholars have pioneered this approach . . . However, few have pursued the theme with as much gusto as Riley * History Today Best Books of 2023 *



Book Information
ISBN 9781847926432
Author Charlotte Lydia Riley
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint The Bodley Head Ltd
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 599g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 162mm * 35mm