Recommendations from our site
“Legacy of Violence is probably the most academic book on the shortlist, but we all felt it was an extraordinary achievement, taking a massive subject and honing it. It’s a model of long-term research. It’s an incredibly topical subject, and often a very controversial one for people, too. It was impossible to ignore this book, in terms of not only the canvas, but also the adroitness with which she’s brought all her research together and presented it. It’s tremendous…I don’t think it’s much of a surprise to hear that the legacy of colonialism was often one of violence. It’s about the systematic nature of that violence. Very often you hear people argue, ‘Well yes, there was violence here and there, but it wasn’t a deliberate policy.’ This book very convincingly shows that this was state-sponsored violence that happened across the board. That is something we need to know and we need to grapple with.” Read more...
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist
Caroline Sanderson, Journalist
Other books by Caroline Elkins
Our most recommended books
-
The Living Mountain
by Nan Shepherd -
Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution
by Tania Branigan -
My Fourth Time, We Drowned
by Sally Hayden -
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
by Laurie Lee -
The Road to Oxiana
by Robert Byron -
Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century
by Brad DeLong