Scan barcode
A review by whatjaimereads
Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.5
Black and British takes the reader right back to the Anglo-Romans, and shows how black and white Britons have lived alongside one another for centuries. Each page is packed densely with information, and parts of my own history education that didn’t seem to really match up have finally had the missing pieces put into place. I can’t recommend this book highly enough if you’re in search of a starting block for reading black British history.
But, this book is by no means all-encompassing; Olusoga does an outstanding job of walking you from the Anglo-Romans to the 1870s, and from this point forth is where it fell short for me. Whilst the book takes a rather meandering pace through the 19th century (more than half the page count lies there), it proceeds to cover the 20th century with an astonishing brevity. Please do make time for this, but go into it looking for gaps to be filled with further reading. A few of the things that I flagged for exploration are: the history of black British women (in the colonies and as immigrants), the Anglo-Boer War, the Scramble for Africa, the interwar period, decolonisation and the Commonwealth, and the period from the arrival of Windrush to present day.
Exceptionally accomplished, and a great baseline, I look forward to reading and recommending books that work in tandem with this throughout the year!
But, this book is by no means all-encompassing; Olusoga does an outstanding job of walking you from the Anglo-Romans to the 1870s, and from this point forth is where it fell short for me. Whilst the book takes a rather meandering pace through the 19th century (more than half the page count lies there), it proceeds to cover the 20th century with an astonishing brevity. Please do make time for this, but go into it looking for gaps to be filled with further reading. A few of the things that I flagged for exploration are: the history of black British women (in the colonies and as immigrants), the Anglo-Boer War, the Scramble for Africa, the interwar period, decolonisation and the Commonwealth, and the period from the arrival of Windrush to present day.
Exceptionally accomplished, and a great baseline, I look forward to reading and recommending books that work in tandem with this throughout the year!