{"product_id":"deny-and-disavow-distancing-the-imperial-past-in-the-culture-wars-9781914489143","title":"Deny and Disavow: Distancing the Imperial Past in the Culture Wars","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeny and Disavow boldly confronts apologists for the British Empire (including the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretaries). Lester contends that this ‘distancing, denial and disavowal policy is part of a deliberate strategy to refute the claims and resist the demands of those who want recognition and reorganisation’. His analysis draws upon thirty years of research and writing and supports BLM’s call for increased awareness of the legacies of structural racism bequeathed by the British Empire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis concise, but invaluable, book provides insights into nineteenth-century views of empire which now animate twenty-first century culture wars, from Edward Colston's toppled statue to the Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs and Peers.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCorrine Fowler, author and Professor of Postcolonial Literature at the University of Leicester.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDeny \u0026amp; Disavow\u003c\/em\u003e is an essential guide. Written by a man with three decades of experience of researching imperial history, and combining elements of memoir with travelogue, it is incredibly accessible, totally authoritative, and intensely readable. This country would be infinitely more sane if it were compulsory reading.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSathnam Sanghera, award-winning author, columnist and feature writer for \u003cem\u003eThe Times\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlan Lester's \u003cem\u003eDeny \u0026amp; Disavow\u003c\/em\u003e is a timely guidebook to the culture wars surrounding Britain's contested past, and an anatomy of the dishonesties and evasions that underpin contemporary projects of rehabilitating empire. With all the care and precision of decades spent in the study of British imperial history, Lester addresses the ways in which that history has been used to advance the politics of racism and ethnonationalism, and to attack the 'enemies within' of racial minorities and intellectuals. With wit and gentle exasperation, Lester shows how to counter the arguments of imperial nostalgism, and insist on the real complexity of history: a complexity that is always ethically challenging, always difficult, and always resistant to the comforts of triumphalism.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePeter Mitchell, writer and historian, author of \u003cem\u003eImperial Nostalgia: How the British Conquered Themselves \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A hugely informative and highly readable takedown of the self-serving canards spread by Britain’s culture warriors on the question of empire. Lester takes us on a figurative stroll through Britain’s imperial history, past statues and stately homes, explaining why a challenging historical engagement is better than either shame or myths of glory.\"\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePriyamvada Gopal, author of \u003cem\u003eInsurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent.\u003c\/em\u003e and Professor of Postcolonial Studies in the Faculty of English at Cambridge University.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SunRise Publishing Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53191530479959,"sku":"9781914489143","price":11.07,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/deny-and-disavow-distancing-the-imperial-past-in-the-culture-wars-9781914489143","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}