Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modern World (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781610392327)

Kwasi Kwarteng is the child of parents whose lives were shaped as subjects of the British Empire, first in their native Ghana, then as British immigrants. He brings a unique perspective and impeccable academic credentials to a narrative history of the British Empire, one that avoids sweeping judgmental condemnation and instead sees the Empire for what it was: a series of local fiefdoms administered in varying degrees of competence or brutality by a cast of characters as outsized and eccentric as anything conjured by Gilbert and Sullivan.

The truth, as Kwarteng reveals, is that there was no such thing as a model for imperial administration; instead, appointees were schooled in quirky, independent-minded individuality. As a result the Empire was the product not of a grand idea but of often chaotic individual improvisation. The idiosyncrasies of viceroys and soldier-diplomats who ran the colonial enterprise continues to impact the world, from Kashmir to Sudan, Baghdad to Hong Kong.

Author: Kwasi Kwarteng
ISBN-10: 1610392329
ISBN-13: 9781610392327
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Language: English
Published: 05/28/2013
Pages: 488
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 8.80h x 5.70w x 1.30d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 07/21/2013 pg. 24