Welcome to Litsy!

Starting in 1982, Simon Winchester traveled to the remaining parts of the UK outside the British Isles, from Tristan da Cunha to #Bermuda to the Falkland Islands (arriving there at a very interesting time). Aspects of this book are super interesting, but the book is ultimately flawed by relying so heavily on the British viewpoint and ignoring that of the locals.

#ReadingAmericas2023

"In 1958...the circulation of popular stereotypes about the sexual and economic threat that West Indian men in particular posed, they [the Tory government] were able to leverage a type of media fiction about the problem that the growing presence of black newcomers posed for the white working class to justify the need for implementing migration controls." ?

Yeah, so, thank goodness that's no longer a thing! ?

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"Africans were William Shakespeare's countrymen."

- 'Blackamores' have their own names in early modern England, by Onyeka Nubia. The first essay proposes that the appearance of Black people in the historical record should not, as is apparently the tendency, be automatically coded as slaves or captives, as the evidence presented is strongly suggestive of early modern English Black people having their own identity ⬇️

"It would appear that the main function of the British press is to PRESS down on those who don't think."

- From the 1939 version of the Manifesto Against War, issued by the International African Service Bureau.

Thankfully, things are so much different now ?

Phew 😮‍💨 It‘s taken me many many weeks to get through this chunkster, at almost 900 pages it was very dense but so interesting and I felt like I learned a lot I didn‘t know about the British empire. The author made it easy to understand and broke it up nicely so the chapters weren‘t too long. A depressing read at times but I‘m glad I read about an important part of history which we don‘t get taught in school but should

You need to be a committed history buff to make it through this book. Maybe the narrator annoyed me more than I thought (his voice BOOMED then dropped to a whisper frequently). After this history lesson it was easy for me to identify that Ashurbanipal was the Assyrian ruler who compiled the world‘s 1st library of all knowledge. I still can‘t get over that Sennacherib (destroyer of Babylon fame) sounds like snack-a-rib! ⚠️ for violence & gore!

This gloomy Saturday was perfect for polishing off my #bookspin. Oof. Knowing the Raj was morally indefensible and exploitative is one thing — but Tharoor can give detailed proof. Vital to understanding the British colonization of India. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5/5 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 #starwars #wedgeantilles #xwing #empire #rebellion #republic #2023

This was not only my first foray into the books of Warhammer, but also into adult “dark“ fantasy. I didn't know exactly what to expect because I've heard the lore of Warhammer is vast in scope. However, when I read this book, I felt like I did when I read fantasy books in middle and high school. It was very difficult for me to stop reading once I started, which I take as a sign of a good book.