Back to Blog
![]() ![]() In their 1993 study, British Imperialism, P.J. Since before the turn of the millennium, important historical works have questioned whether ordinary British people were ever truly enthusiastic about imperialism. Strachey was writing long before the advent of digital archives when historians can read Victorian newspapers from the comfort of their offices, the period can feel dangerously familiar. Lytton Strachey’s observation that ‘the history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it’ is surely relevant here. Modern historians of British imperial culture may yet be guilty of underestimating the sheer ‘differentness’ of 19th-century Britain. Goldhagen’s belief that researchers should address the time and place of their study ‘as an anthropologist would the world of a people about whom little is known’ is excellent advice for any researcher. Yet how far are Goldhagen’s ideas relevant to current debates about the depth and extent of popular imperialism in 19th-century Britain? ![]() Its argument, that the German people were more acquiescent in the crimes of Nazism than was once thought, is firmly grounded culturally, historically and philosophically. Twenty years after its publication, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen’s study, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, stands out for the rigour of its approach. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |