This was a fantastic and insightful look into how 'empire' never really left us.
Will be very useful to use with my students as it poses very interesting and relevant questions about the world around us today.

An excellent example of making history accessible to everyone, as well as challenging the reader to let go of their preconceived world view. I can see this text becoming a cornerstone in empirical study.

This is a very thought provoking book that will make you reflect on the world order that holds most of the developing world at hostage. It traces the historical beginning of modern day inequity while asserting that the Western model of development is contingent on exploitation and abuse of marginalised groups, and practices like racism. It's a bold opinion which shows how the goal of development will remain illusive in a system based on capitalism whose roots loe in colonialism, slavery and racism.

A must-read book, without a doubt. A challenging read across all levels, but it poses questions that must be faced. Some fascinating insights into historically accepted versions of events/approaches and written in a very easy-to-read style.

“No amount of editing or inclusion to this racist systemwill ever give us freedom and we now have a generation who should no longer be persuaded we are on the right path.” I watched a couple of webinars with Kehinde Andrews back in February when his new book ‘The Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World’, but even these did not prepare me for the power in his written word.

Andrews tells us that despite optimism to society facing up to racism, we should still approach with caution. “Rebranding a racist problem is not a step in the right direction” he says, and “we entirely miss the point if we believe that racism can be overcome with token gestures, commitment to diverse hiring practices or statements of brand solidarity.”

With Covid-19 laying bare existing social inequalities, Andews states that ”the surprise at these findings tells us how little we understand racism.” He tells us that we delude ourselves with tinkering at the edges, and that, without revolution, we wil never erase racism at the heart of the global political and economic system. Strong words, a powerful book and recommended reading.

I learned a lot from this book, particularly the first half. It really makes you question everything. Sometimes I found the numbers a bit much but would generally recommend.

First of all, I wanted to say thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

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This is an absolutely devastating but crucial piece of literature. The work Kehinde Andrews has put into this book is admirable and commendable. From the foreword alone, I was utterly devastated by the statistics shown. I didn’t truly realise the extent to how ignorant I had been towards certain areas of colonialism and white supremacy. Kehinde Andrews has opened my eyes to the horrors that face black and ethnic minorities on a daily basis at the hands of white people. It really shouldn’t have taken until George Floyds tragic murder for enlightenment on white supremacy, or for black people to have to exhaust themselves, and tear their hearts out to educate us white people on the revolting treatment of their race.

This is such an insightful, poignant and pivotal piece of literature which in my opinion needs to be read by everyone, particularly white people. It’s harrowing, realising a lot of historical events we’re taught in school to celebrate, are actually just white washing of genuine inventors and discoverers, to make the west wound more advanced and important than it actually was. Particularly within the development of science and intellect.

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It’s a very heavy read but SO important! It’s meant to be uncomfortable. It’s so fundamental that these books come to light and allow us to really see the damage that slavery and colonialism has done to the BAME communities. A lot of what was involved in this book was news to me, which is utterly repulsive, as stated previously, the oppressed communities shouldn’t be the ones educating us white people on the actual history. The fact that the system is so racist that it tries to exonerate all the bad things I.e. transatlantic slavery, genocide of whole races and tribes, to try and show countries in a more patriotic light is repugnant.

As stated prior, it can be a tiring book to read because there’s a lot to take in, so I would suggest reading it in bits, it’s so important to read either way, it’s just heavy on information. If you struggle with getting easily overwhelmed, I would suggest breaking up your reading into more manageable chunks. It took me a lot longer than I expected to read this book, purely because there was so much to process and I needed the time between chapters/ sub-chapters to really absorb and process the material.

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Overall, I’m really glad I picked this book to read, as devastating and uncomfortable as it was, I can’t express how crucial this book is in breaking the ignorance around white supremacy and institutional racism. As painful as this can be to read, it’s nothing compared to what black and ethnic minority communities have been subjected to for hundreds of years!! Please read this book!!

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This is a clear, angry and fascinating reappraisal of modern history that shows how racism is not just embedded within the machinery of Western capitalism but is the engine of Empire and the continuation of Empire we are all now living in.

The earlier pages in particular are extremely accessible and eye opening. It's the sort of book where I kept telling people facts and stories I had just learned. Although people who disagree with his thesis may struggle with what he has to say, it should be impossible to dismiss it. At its simplest, the extreme differences in quality of life between countries in the West (including, increasingly, China) and those in the South and elsewhere is not some sort of sad but inevitable state of being, but the direct consequences of the agents of empire plundering the rest of the world and still living off that wealth and the system it created today. Actions only possible through the denigration and exploitation of black and brown bodies and minds. The only obvious way to unpick it would be for the affluent West to give up that extreme affluence - when instead the system keeps strengthening and rebooting in order to protect its power. We may speak of the unravelling of Empire, but it continues to exist and adapt and even to gain power through the myth that it is wasting away.

The book ended rather quickly and was a bit more academic and challenging in later pages. However, it's a fantastic and clear account of the brutal inequality of the way our globe works and an important read that I would recommend.

This review is based on a copy provided by Netgalley.

A damning exploration of the many ways in which the effects and logic of anti-black colonialism continue to inform our modern world written by the authoritative Dr. Kehinde Andrews - an Associate Professor in Sociology at the School of Social Sciences at Birmingham City University and developed the Europe's first Black Studies undergraduate degree. Colonialism and imperialism are often thought to be distant memories, whether they're glorified in Britain's collective nostalgia or taught as a sin of the past in history classes. This idea is bolstered by the emergence of India, China, Argentina and other non-western nations as leading world powers. Multiculturalism, immigration and globalization have led traditionalists to fear that the west is in decline and that white people are rapidly being left behind; progressives and reactionaries alike espouse the belief that we live in a post-racial society.

But imperialism, as Kehinde Andrews argues, is alive and well. It's just taken a new form: one in which the U.S. and not Europe is at the center of Western dominion, and imperial power looks more like racial capitalism than the expansion of colonial holdings. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization and even the United Nations are only some of these modern mechanisms of Western imperialism. Yet these imperialist logics and tactics are not limited to just the west or to white people, as in the neocolonial relationship between China and Africa. Diving deep into the concepts of racial capitalism and racial patriarchy, Andrews adds nuance and context to these often over-simplified narratives, challenging the right and the left in equal measure.

Andrews takes the reader from genocide to slavery to colonialism, deftly explaining the histories of these phenomena, how their justifications are linked, and how they continue to shape our world to this day. The New Age of Empire is a damning indictment of white-centered ideologies from Marxism to neoliberalism, and a reminder that our histories are never really over. This is a fascinating, accessible and eye-opening exploration of a hard truth: we have not progressed as much as we would like to believe. Seamlessly and skilfully weaving history, economics and politics in order to back up his points and debunk the false narratives, this is a thorough and provocative, sharp-sighted and masterful dismantling of the social narratives that we continue to perpetuate without question or challenge. It's time for the world to wake up to some wholly uncomfortable truths as then, and only then, can we try to change that truth. Highly recommended.