Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire
The Wm. Roger Louis Lecture
Sprawling across a quarter of the world鈥檚 landmass and claiming nearly seven hundred million subjects, Britain鈥檚 twentieth-century empire was the largest in history. For many Britons, it was a testament to their nation鈥檚 cultural superiority, but what legacy did the island nation鈥檚 empire deliver to the world? Covering more than two hundred years of history, Legacy of Violence places coercion at the center of its narratives and challenges recent political defenses of British exceptionalism, puncturing the myths of paternalism and progress, and demonstrating liberalism鈥檚 perfidiousness across the empire and at home.
Caroline Elkins is a Professor of History and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Law School, and the founding director of Harvard鈥檚 Center for African Studies. She earned her AB, summa cum laude, from Princeton University and her MA and PhD from Harvard. Among her many awards, Elkins won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for her first book, Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain鈥檚 Gulag in Kenya.
The Washington History Seminar is co-chaired by Eric Arnesen (George Washington University) and Christian Ostermann (Woodrow 乐鱼 体育) and is organized jointly by the American Historical Association and the Woodrow 乐鱼 体育's History and Public Policy Program. It meets weekly during the academic year. The seminar thanks its anonymous individual donors and institutional partner (the George Washington University History Department) for their continued support.
Speaker

Moderators

Woodrow 乐鱼 体育

Professor of History, The George Washington University. Director, National History Center of the American Historical Association.
Panelists


Hosted By
History and Public Policy Program
A leader in making key foreign policy records accessible and fostering informed scholarship, analysis, and discussion on international affairs, past and present. Read more