A review by islamaunder21
Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

Considering the sheer vastness of the British Empire, this book is a pretty impressive feat in how it manages to condense so much into a relatively short book, and provides an amazing introduction into thinking about Britain's national amnesia when it comes to the evil atrocities committed under the organisation of slavery and imperialism. There are so many historical figures and events which I had no idea about and am so grateful to have been informed on, including the genocide in Tasmania or the first curry house and then bath house in Brighton set up by Dean Mahomed. I do feel like there wasn't a lot of coherency to the way this book was structured, which is obviously hard to commit to when covering such a huge topic, so it felt a bit all over the place and hard to follow at times. I do also feel like there was a lot of repetition of the same arguments. Whilst there was a focus on the empire in India and the transatlantic slave trade, for instance, Britain's colonial rule in the African continent doesn't really get a mention at all. However, this was such an informative book and made an excellent case for prioritising education on empire and slavery in British institutions, discourse, media and culture, as well as facing the evils of our past. Following the 2024 racist riots which broke out across this country, there is a proven urgency and relevance behind the arguments the author Sathnam Sanghera puts forward, most notably that the legacies of Empire live on in pretty much all aspects of British society whether we realise it or not.  Looking forward to reading his new book Empireworld which has come out this year. 
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