THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

In his ground-breaking new book, Sathnam Sanghera traces the legacies of British empire around the world.

‘A wonderful book’ Rory Stewart
‘Nuanced and deeply researched’ Financial Times
‘Not just a welcome corrective but a book for our times’ Peter Frankopan
_____________________________________________________

The British empire was built on slavery, but it also pioneered abolition.
It spread democracy, but it also seeded geopolitical instability.
It devastated nature but it also gave birth to modern notions of environmentalism.

In this urgent sequel to Empireland, award-winning author and journalist Sathnam Sanghera extends his examination of British imperial legacies beyond Britain to the wider world.

Travelling across outposts of the former empire from Barbados and Mauritius to India and Nigeria and beyond, Sanghera puts to bed the conventional balance-sheet view of imperial history where the good is merely weighed up against the bad. In Empireworld, Sanghera instead seeks out nuance to reveal how contradictory forces of the British empire have shaped our world and what they mean for our place within it today.
_____________________________________________________

‘An absolute masterpiece’ James O’Brien

‘Puts Sanghera in the firmament of great imperial historians’ Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, i

‘Profoundly moving’ Elizabeth Day

If you thought Empireland was beautifully written – this follow up takes you even further – on an extraordinary, entertaining and eye-opening journey around the globe * Sadiq Khan *
Essential and absorbing reading for those not afraid to encounter diligently researched, complex, and often contradictory truths about colonial rule and its legacies * Professor Alan Lester *
This is a ground-breaking and eye-opening book, that everyone should read. Written with wit, nuance and academic rigour; it is a long overdue look at Empire and its effect on the world * Kavita Puri *
Once again, Sathnam Sanghera has advanced the civil conversation we all need to have about empire and its legacies * Jonathan Coe *
One of my favourite writers and Empireworld is a must read if you want to understand the world -- Greg James * BBC Radio *
Another smart, compassionate and essential book about the legacy of Empire and our braided histories * Meera Syal *
His writing on empire and colonialism will change how you understand modern Britain * Bella Mackie *
This brave, painful, urgent and timely book, is not, in other words, about 'goodies' or 'baddies'. It is about telling the truth about a nation’s imperial past in all its ambiguity — and creating dialogue between everyone who lays claim to Britishness -- Jerry Brotton * The Financial Times *
This is history with a personal touch . . . today’s history students will have much to ponder . . . there are plenty of new ideas, argued with passion. If Britain wants to move forward as a key player on the world stage, Sanghera demonstrates, we must take time to understand our past — all warts, and all wonders, considered -- Alice Loxton * The Sunday Times *
Refined, subtle, accurate, analytical, witty, engaging, and questioning . . . this book puts Sanghera in the firmament of great imperial historians. Furthermore, his lucid and accessible writing reaches out to those with closed minds. For that he deserves all the accolades he is sure to get -- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown * The i *

Sathnam Sanghera was born to Punjabi immigrant parents in Wolverhampton in 1976. He entered the education system unable to speak English but went on to graduate from Christ's College, Cambridge with a first class degree in English Language and Literature. He has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards twice, for his memoir The Boy With The Topknot and his novel Marriage Material. Empireland has been longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, was named a Book of the Year at the National Book Awards of 2022, and inspired both the Channel 4 series Empire State of Mind and Sanghera's children's book about the British empire Stolen History. He lives in London.