Stolen History: The truth about the British Empire and how it shaped us

Product Information

Sanghera is a highly respected journalist and author —his memoir The Boy in the Topknot, about growing up in Wolverhampton in the 1980s, was published in 2009—but his move into writing history was somewhat of an accident. Before Empireland, he wanted to write a novel or biography about Dean Mohamed, a man who set up a massage parlour in Brighton that was attended by George IV. During his research Sanghera found out that Mahomed had at one point in his life served in the East India Company and the author realised he knew very little about the empire that had shaped this inspirational man’s life. Stolen History is the perfect book for every school. All our young people need to know the truth about the British Empire. This book is accessible, expertly written and hugely important.”

Stolen History | BookTrust

Empireland is much more than an accounting of the losses and gains accrued from Empire. Sanghera blends memoir, journalism and history to construct a multi-layered narrative that slowly builds toward an existential but also political question: if you take away Empire, and everything connected to it, what would be left of the elements that could be said to constitute British national identity? What is British identity minus Empire?” Interrogating the role of Empire in everything from the artefacts in museum collections to the origins of our nation’s multiculturalism and racism, this clear-sighted book also manages to be empathetic and witty – testament to Sanghera’s extraordinary skill in telling this complex story. It should be on every school’s reading list.” Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo on why she is supporting Lit in Colour, a campaign from Penguin and the Runnymede Trust to support schools to diversify the teaching of English literature.Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera (Viking) is an important book and that’s not a phrase to use lightly. It’s an exposé and a reminder of how conveniently the British have rewritten the past and buried the bones of their shame. The bones are, of course, still poking through the soil – dangerous, stinking, tripping us up – and many of us live today with the legacy of slavery and empire. Empireland is a necessary, uncomfortable and illuminating read.”

Stolen History | BookTrust Stolen History | BookTrust

Ece Temelkuran, author of Together: 10 Choices for a Better Now, has pointed out that the west has been used to thinking they’re more advanced than the rest of the world. But the recent slide towards populism shows that we’re actually behind countries like her native Turkey, and are being offered a glimpse of our near-future. In Together, she shows how resisting this rise of polarisation and hatred means adopting a new mindset – reacquainting ourselves with community, finding better strategies than anger, and learning to have faith rather than easily undermined hope. Temelkuran’s work cuts through easy reactions like cynicism and rage, and shows us how to engage again.Before becoming a writer, Sanghera worked at a burger chain, a hospital laundry, a market research firm, a sewing factory and a literacy project in New York. [3] As a student he worked at the Express and Star in Wolverhampton and dressed up as a " news bunny" for L!VE TV. [6] Between 1998 and 2006 he was a reporter and feature writer for the Financial Times. [3] I've resisted suggestions that I write a kids' book on empire on the grounds that I didn't want to sanitise the history. But I think I've found a tone that allows me to be both honest and entertaining. I'm really excited that kids might soon have access to knowledge about the British Empire that I only stumbled across at the age of 45. Becoming at ease with this history is essential to Britain becoming a saner country. - Sathnam Sanghera About This Edition ISBN:

Extract | Stolen History by Sathnam Sanghera - Penguin Books UK

An accessible, engaging and essential introduction to the British empire for readers aged 9+, by bestselling author of Empireland, Sathnam Sanghera. You've probably heard the word 'empire' before. Perhaps because of the Roman empire. Or maybe even the Star Wars films. But what about the British Empire? Why don't we learn much about this? And what even is an empire, anyway?This book will answer all the important questions about Britain's imperial history.He switched to writing a history of empire and during that process the murder of George Floyd happened. People were suddenly very interested in systemic racism and colonialism and Sanghera found he was writing a very timely book. A lot of thought went into what to show and how to represent empire pictorially. “How do you depict slavery? Should you show [enslaved people] working with cotton or sugar cane? Cotton is a crop more associated with American slavery and sugar is more imperial, more Caribbean… When you are illustrating Kipling’s Jungle Book do you echo his imperialist view of Indians? Or do you modernise? Every illustration is a potential explosive area.” Move into writing history It’s another Bookwagon day in our house. The kids were so excited to get their latest books in the post. This book will answer all the important questions about Britain's imperial history. It will explore how Britain's empire once made it the most powerful nation on earth, and how it still affects our lives in many ways today - from the words we use, to the food we eat, the sports we play and even to every grown-up's fixation with a good cup of tea.

Stolen History: The truth about the British Empire and how it Stolen History: The truth about the British Empire and how it

This was partly because he didn’t want to be accused of being a “culture warrior”, and he doesn’t want parents, many of whom have “complicated politics”, to reject his book, but he also strongly feels that children and readers can be trusted. “Every 10-year-old I know is highly opinionated and they are able to deal with the idea that there are conflicting views. I think we don’t give kids enough space to be able to handle that.” O'Hara, Mary (19 August 2009). "Interview: Sathnam Sanghera, author of a candid memoir about mental illness". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 November 2017. In Little Badman and the Rise of the Punjabi Zombies, caretaker Mr Kapoor mentions the Partition that took place in India in 1947. Here, we’ve shared the afterword from the book, which provides a more detailed overview of the historic event, written by Swapna Haddow. Empireland is a vital investigation. In the stammering words of a character named Whisky Sisodia in Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses: “The trouble with the Engenglish is that their hiss-hiss-history happened overseas, so they do- do-don’t know what it means.” It’s the perfect epigraph for the book, which stands apart from most volumes on the merits and demerits of the British empire because it is cast as a personal journey of understanding… The result is an extremely readable and well-researched book that seeks to explain, among other things, the country’s sense of exceptionalism when dealing with Brexit and the pandemic; the position of the City of London as one of the world’s major financial centres; the wealth of its richest families and institutions; and the state of its grand country houses and museums.” What do tea, cotton, sugar and tobacco have in common with zombies, curry, dungarees and bungalows? They all came to Britain as a direct result of the British Empire. ( Actual zombies didn’t come here, just the word ‘zombie’ – in case you were wondering).

Sathnam Sanghera Press Reviews

This book should be on the compulsory reading list of every secondary school in the country' John Simpson