Imperial Mud

The Fight for the Fens

Imperial Mud
James Boyce
RRP:
NZ$ 24.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 19.99
Paperback
h198 x 129mm - 256pg
8 Apr 2021 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781785787157
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
A population of proud indigenous people fight for generations to preserve their homelands against an expanding empire - an invasion justified as being necessary for 'progress'. After centuries of resistance, their culture and community are destroyed. All of this takes place in East Anglia, roughly between the English Civil Wars and the mid-Victorian period.An innovative new take on the drainage of the Fens, framed in the language of colonialism, Imperial Mud upends the narrative of this being a triumph of technology over nature. The final destruction of England's last lowland wilderness and the dispossession of its custodians was not an inevitable consequence of 'progress', but of the growing power of a centralised and militarised state.Imperial Mud reimagines not just the history of the Fens, but the history and identity of the English people.
'A brilliant and exhilarating work of popular scholarship. I pencil vertical lines in the margins of the books I read whenever a sentence or paragraph seems especially striking. My copy of Born Bad carries such scribbles on every other page.'--Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
'A revisionist version of Tasmania's past, Van Diemen's Land by James Boyce moves away from the usual history of genocide to examine the phenomenon of a white underclass taking on Aboriginal ways of living - an unusual version of a familiar tale.'
'An exceptional, highly recommended work, innovative and creative in surprising ways.'--Publishers Weekly, starred review
'Boyce covers a lot of ground and explores a number of authors in this wide-ranging treatment, and the result is impressive. Readable and comprehensive ... Boyce successfully illustrates the ability of original sin to dominate Western culture for nearly two millennia.'
'The most significant colonial history since The Fatal Shore. In re-imagining Australia's past, it invents a new future.'--Richard Flanagan
James Boyce is a multi-award-winning Australian historian. His first book, Van Diemen's Land, was described by Richard Flanagan as 'the most significant colonial history since The Fatal Shore'.1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia was The Age's Book of the Year, while Born Bad: Original Sin and the Making of the Western World was hailed by The Washington Post as 'an exhilarating work of popular scholarship'.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781785787157
Published: 8 Apr 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Icon Books
Publisher: Icon Books
Format: Paperback
Height: 198mm
Width: 129mm
Pages: 256

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