Books by Piers Brendan
The Decline and Fall of the British Empire 1781-1997
by Piers Brendan
One of his central arguments is that the Roman Empire was always consciously in the minds of the British imperialists. It was the great historical model for the project of Empire, and that is double-edged: there is both the massive triumphalism and assertion of historic dignity and power in it, but it also means that the entire conversation about the British Empire from the beginning is shot through with a sense of its ultimate likely decline. The book is also good on the fact that the Empire for British society as a whole was a minority pursuit.
Interviews where books by Piers Brendan were recommended
The best books on The Mau Mau Uprising and The Fading Empire, recommended by Adam Foulds
British novelist and poet Adam Foulds discusses fading empire in the context of Kenya, including the horrors of British gulags, the Mau Mau uprising, and the social deprivation endured by the Kikuyu.
