Caroline Elkins Bücher

This landmark study examines the British Empire's pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century. Spanning a quarter of the world's land and nearly seven hundred million people, Britain's empire was the largest in history, often viewed as a symbol of cultural superiority. However, it left a complex legacy. Over more than two centuries, the author reveals a racialized doctrine that justified the systematic use of violence to protect imperial interests. The ideological roots of this violence can be traced back to Victorian attitudes that advocated punishing indigenous peoples resisting subjugation, evolving into increasingly organized practices. The study highlights how, when Britain could no longer control the violence it instigated, it retreated from its empire, actively destroying evidence of its actions. Drawing on over a decade of research across four continents, the work implicates various political factions in the creation, execution, and concealment of imperial violence. By illustrating how violence was central to both the empire and British identity, it challenges long-held myths and reveals a troubling perspective on the empire's impact on the modern world.

Only a few years after Britain defeated fascism came the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya - a mass armed rebellion by the Kikuyu people, demanding the return of their land and freedom. Britain's Gulag reveals, for the first time, the full savagery of the Mau Mau war and the ruthless determination with which Britain sought to control its empire.

Reveals how the British colonial government detained more than one million members of Kenya's largest ethnic minority in prisons and work camps where many met their deaths as a result of a British attempt to stop the Mau Mau uprising.