Lest We Remember: what Oxford's war memorial tells us about the British Empire and why that matters
Is Britain ashamed of its past, and if not should it be? A dilapidated war memorial in Oxford city-centre seems a strange place to begin a search to the answer to these questions but this intriguing book does just that. It takes us from the mountains of Afghanistan to the tropics of Uganda to tell a tale of one city's often surprising links with the British Empire.
Uncomfortable questions are raised with the focus as much on those commemorated on the memorial as on those who they came into contact with in the imperial realm. The author weaves a fascinating tale of individual experiences and their wider context which makes us think again about our past and how we remember it.
Retracing the lives and events of those commemorated on the memorial this book draws on archival sources to trace two high Empire period military campaigns and the effect they had on the lives of those instigating them. It also turns the table and explores the impact on those who were caught up in the campaigns and the subsequent trajectories of their nations.
It deals with wide themes of imperialism but does so by telling an all too human tale of the lives of the individuals caught in the historical stream.
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