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Informationen zum Autor Bernard Porter is Emeritus Professor of Modern History, University of Newcastle, UK. He is a regular contributor to LRB, TLS, Literary Review, Guardian, History Today , academic journals and has lectured around the world. Alongside this, he has also appeared on national radio and television shows. He is based in Stockholm, Sweden. His book, Absent-Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society, and Culture in Britain (2004) won the American Historical Association's Morris D. Forkosch Prize in 2005.Aspects of the history of the British Empire from one of its leading historians Zusammenfassung The British Empire was an astonishingly complex and varied phenomenon! not to be reduced to any of the simple generalisations or theories that are often taken to characterise it. One way of illustrating this! and so conveying some of the subtle flavour of the thing itself! is to descend from the over-arching to the particular! and describe and discuss aspects of it in detail. This book! by the well-known imperial historian Bernard Porter! ranges among a wide range of the events and personalities that shaped or were shaped by British imperialism! or by its decline in the post-war years. These include chapters on science! drugs! battles! proconsuls! an odd assortment of imperialists including Kipling! Lady Hester Stanhope and TE Lawrence! architecture! music! the role of MI6 and the reputation of the Empire since its demise. Together the chapters inform! explain! provoke! and occasionally amuse; but above all they demonstrate the kaleidoscopic variety and ambivalence of Britain s imperial history." Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction Section I: Empire and ImperialismCh. 01: Cutting the Empire down to size Ch.02: Wealth or Commonwealth? The History of a ParadoxCh.03: The Men on the Spot Ch.04: Science in Africa Ch.05 Cannabis and EmpireSection II: Imperial WarsCh.06: The War of 1812 Ch.07: The Opium Wars Ch. 08 The Zulu Wars Ch.09: Victoria’s Other Wars Ch.10: The Falklands War Section III: ImperialistsCh.11: George Bogle Ch.12: Stamford RafflesCh.13: Lady Hester Stanhope Ch.14: Rudyard bloody KiplingCh.15: Lord Cromer Ch.16: Henry Morton Stanley Ch.17: More Explorers Ch.18: Lawrence of ArabiaCh.19: The Butcher of AmritsarCh.20: The Mercenary Section IV: The Empire at HomeCh.21: Further thoughts on imperial absent-mindednessCh.22: Imperialism contested Ch.23: Elgar and Empire Ch.24: Architecture and EmpireSection V: The end of Empire and afterCh.25: Atrocity in Kenya Ch.26: The Central African FederationCh.27: Decolonisation in AsiaCh.28: Secret Services: the last penumbra of Empire Ch.29: After-Images of EmpireConclusionAppendix I: Where I Come FromAppendix II: Acknowledgments...
