Extreme Violence and the 'British Way'

Reviews / Votes

Michelle Gordon's history of violence in the British Empire is an important corrective to a traditional historiography which regards such violence as the exception rather than the rule. Gordon demonstrates instead, using the insights of genocide studies, that extreme violence was essential to the establishment and maintenance of control in the British empire. That violence was often knowingly outside of the legal conventions of warfare and included the targeting of potential resistance before the event, collective reprisals including scorched earth policies and the destruction of civilian communities. Ultimately Michelle Gordon requires us to write violence back into the history of the British Empire, which often held the potential for genocide. * Tom Lawson, Professor of History, Northumbria University, UK * Starting with questions that come from genocide studies and applying them to the much-neglected problem of violence and atrocity in the British Empire, Michelle Gordon has written a powerful work of historical inquiry. Extreme Violence and the 'British Way' will generate much debate and lead to further research into an issue that remains highly relevant for today's world. * Dan Stone, Professor of History, Royal Holloway, UK * This important book shows that rather than constituting an occasional 'excess', extreme violence was a characteristic trait of Britain's empire. Michelle Gordon convincingly attributes extreme imperial violence to its 'exemplary', punitive-cum-'pre-emptive' function. Britain's presence produced resistance that was used to justify the most brutal 'pacification' in the name of civilisation. * Donald Bloxham, Richard Pares Professor of History, The University of Edinburgh, UK *