Dark truths about British imperialism

Despite the ambitious title, the author really begins her story only in the 19th century, with a series of colonial rebellions from Ireland to India

This year Queen Elizabeth II marks her unprecedented 70th anniversary on the throne, having succeeded unexpectedly when her father, King George VI, died on February 6, 1952, aged only 56. On the following day Winston Churchill, recently returned to Downing Street as prime minister, spoke on the BBC to an audience at home and throughout the world, ending with a grandiose flourish. The young monarch “will command the loyalty of her native land and of all other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire. I, whose youth was passed in the august, unchallenged and tranquil glories of the Victorian era,