Colonialism - A Moral Reckoning

The Sunday Times BestsellerA new assessment of the West-s colonial recordIn the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet empire in 1989, many believed that we had arrived at the -End of History- - that the global dominance of liberal democracy had been secured forever.Now however, with Russia rattling its sabre on the borders of Europe and China rising to challenge the post-1945 world order, the liberal West faces major threats. These threats are not only external. Especially in the Anglosphere, the -decolonisation- movement corrodes the West-s self-confidence by retelling the history of European and American colonial dominance as a litany of racism, exploitation, and massively murderous violence. Nigel Biggar tests this indictment, addressing the crucial questions in eight chapters: Was the British Empire driven primarily by greed and the lust to dominate? Should we speak of -colonialism and slavery- in the same breath, as if they were identical? Was the Empire essentially racist? How fa