It’s another Bookwagon day in our house. The kids were so excited to get their latest books in the post. Sathnam Sanghera, the journalist and award-winning author of Empireland (Viking), didn’t initially want to write a book for children about the British Empire. “Another publisher approached me and I didn’t want to sanitise the history,” he says. “That’s what Britain has always done, sanitise the history, the violence, and I assumed if you wrote for kids there would be a lot of that.”

Stolen history : the truth about the British Empire and how Stolen history : the truth about the British Empire and how

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. Something that really comes across in the book is Sanghera’s faith in young people (PRH is pitching Stolen History at readers aged nine plus) to form their own judgements about the British Empire, or indeed, anything to do with that period. As he says, Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book can be read as an allegory of empire but readers should form their own opinions about any books, including this one.What’s more, ending slavery didn’t stop the gigantic system of trade and exploitation it had spawned. On the contrary, it was meant to enhance it. The British government paid out colossal sums to compensate slaveowners – but nothing to enslaved people themselves. Instead, the law abolishing slavery forced them to continue to labour for years on their existing plantations, as unpaid “apprentices”. a b Saner, Emine (5 November 2017). "Sathnam Sanghera on The Boy with the Topknot: 'Mum cried while she told our story. I cried as I wrote it' ". The Observer . Retrieved 5 November 2017. One of the most underwritten parts of history is the colonisation of Asia, and its legacy. Lust, Caution, the 1979 novella by Eileen Chang, about a group of Chinese students who plot to assassinate a wartime collaborator of the invading Japanese during the second world war, shows us this moment in history, and the terrible grey areas that emerge in these times. Understanding this history is important – it’s the only way we learn how not to repeat it. But the book is also a masterclass in writing the duality of human beings. To me, changing the world starts with knowing the world. Lust, Caution taught me a little bit more about the world, and about people.

Stolen History by Sathnam Sanghera (9780241623435/Paperback Stolen History by Sathnam Sanghera (9780241623435/Paperback

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. Because how can we ever make the world a kinder, better place for the future, if we don't know the truth about the past?"I've resisted suggestions that I write a kids' book on empire on the grounds that I didn't want to sanitise the history.Prue Leith is a judge on The Great British Bake Off. Her one-woman show, Nothing in Moderation, is on tour now. Writing the book was a “long process” and 80% covers topics that didn’t feature in Empireland, says Sanghera. An entire chapter on economics, which took up four months of the author’s life, didn’t even make it into the final version. Empire State of Mind review – 'Within moments, I am crying on to my laptop' ". the Guardian. 20 November 2021. I loved how easy it was to read and the little illustrations peppered throughout. Even though it’s marketed towards children, it’s a good introduction into the depth and breadth of the British Empire.

Stolen History - Sathnam Sanghera

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. Excellent… a desire to rectify ignorance – to shed light on what has been whitewashed from mainstream knowledge – drives this rigorous examination of hidden histories… Empireland skilfully sets out the empire’s staggering scale and scope, including its geography… He delves deep through the centuries… He unflinchingly shows the sheer brutality of empire… Empireland is, most refreshingly, forward-looking, too… powerful.”Thanks so much for your lovely message and for everything that you do with Book Wagon. Yourself and Bob are much cherished in our booky world and I personally really appreciate everything that you do. It’s a characteristically instructive vignette in Empireland, Sanghera’s impassioned and deeply personal journey through Britain’s imperial past and present. The empire, he argues, still shapes British society – its delusions of exceptionalism, its immense private and public wealth, the fabric of its cities, the dominance of the City of London, even the entitled and drunken behaviour of British expats and holidaymakers abroad. Yet the British choose not to see this: wilful amnesia about the darker sides of imperialism may be its most pernicious legacy. Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self by Andrea Wulf is published by John Murray . Brown, Mark (26 November 2013). "Costa book awards 2013: late author on all-female fiction shortlist". The Guardian . Retrieved 27 November 2013.