Empire of Sentiment

Reviews / Votes

'An enthralling analysis of the cult of Livingstone and what it tells us about Victorian imperialism, manly heroism and, above all, modern memory.' Joanna Bourke, Times Higher Education 'Lewis (international history, London School of Economics) situates the 1873 death of missionary David Livingstone in the context of moral imperialism and the impending division of Africa into European spheres of influence. Recommended.' S. L. Smith, Choice '... [a] worthy contribution to the everburgeoning catalogue of Livingstoniana. Empire of Sentiment: The Death of Livingstone and the Myth of Victorian Imperialism manages to carve out new territory, in two ways in particular. First, Lewis uses the outpouring of grief that ensued when the news of Livingstone's death reached Britain ... to explore how emotion provided a key underpinning for the British Empire. Second, she provides a fresh look at the posthumous myth that came to surround Livingstone, situating it in the context of a twentieth-century colonial southern Africa that relied increasingly heavily on white supremacy enshrined in law, as well as in a postcolonial Africa in which black African rulers sought to shape Livingstone's legacy for their own ends. Both of these strands are written about in lively and often elegant prose, at the same time as they convey a staggering amount of detail that is clearly the product of prodigious research.' Stephanie Barczewski, The American Historical Review 'The especial value of what Lydon and Lewis offer rests in their detailed historical accounting: the particularity of the circumstances they survey in Australia and Africa, respectively. Both monographs contribute to a larger and more complex history of how feeling was manipulated across the British Empire.' Jason R. Rudy, Victorian Studies