Johann Hari's New York Times review of the book, "Churchill's Empire: The World That Made Him and the World He Made," by Richard Toye, demonstrates these shades of gray murkiness as they pertain to the familiar hagiography accorded Winston Churchill, succinctly summarized by Hari in this sentence:
“(Churchill) may have been a thug, but he knew a greater thug when he saw one — and we may owe our freedom today to this wrinkle in history.”
The Two Churchills
Winston Churchill is remembered for leading Britain through her finest hour — but what if he also led the country through her most shameful one? What if, in addition to rousing a nation to save the world from the Nazis, he fought for a raw white supremacy and a concentration camp network of his own? This question burns through Richard Toye’s superb, unsettling new history, “Churchill’s Empire” — and is even seeping into the Oval Office.
Thanks for that.
ReplyDeleteMy friend and classmate Jane is Kikuyu. We were assigned to interview each other as an icebreaker on the first day of our program. We were both immediately surprised at the similarities inherent in our respective interests - the preservation of indigenous languages and culture and urban revitalization.
From Jane I fully understand that the damage of British imperialism is a current problem rather than simply a historic one. Though we've talked about "freedom fighters" in various roles and to varying degrees, I never thought to ask her specifically about Churchill but I will now.