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1
Britain fought in the Second World War to save the world from fascism. But just a few years after the defeat of Hitler came the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya - a mass armed rebellion by the Kikuyu people, demanding the return of their land and freedom. The draconian response of Britain's colonial government was to detain nearly the entire Kikuyu population of one-and-a half-million - to hold them in camps or confine them in villages ringed with barbed wire - and to portray them as sub-human savages.
From 1952 until the end of the war in 1960 tens of thousands of detainees - and... more Britain fought in the Second World War to save the world from fascism. But just a few years after the defeat of Hitler came the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya - a mass armed rebellion by the Kikuyu people, demanding the return of their land and freedom. The draconian response of Britain's colonial government was to detain nearly the entire Kikuyu population of one-and-a half-million - to hold them in camps or confine them in villages ringed with barbed wire - and to portray them as sub-human savages.
From 1952 until the end of the war in 1960 tens of thousands of detainees - and possibly a hundred thousand or more - died from the combined effects of exhaustion, disease, starvation and systemic physical brutality. Until now these events have remained untold, largely because the British government in Kenya destroyed most of its files. For the last eight years Caroline Elkins has conducted exhaustive research to piece together the story, unearthing reams of documents and interviewing several hundred Kikuyu survivors.
Britain's Gulag reveals what happened inside Kenya's detention camps, as well as the efforts to conceal the truth. Now, for the first time, we can understand the full savagery of the Mau Mau war and the ruthless determination with which Britain sought to control its empire. less 
Julia LovellThe uncomfortable fact remains that a large slice of the British Empire was bankrolled by opium money. (Source)
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2
Why did defeat in the Opium War not lead Ch'ing China to a more realistic appreciation of Western might and Chinese weakness? James Polachek's revisionist analysis exposes the behind-the-scenes political struggles that not only shaped foreign-policy decisions in the 1830s and 1840s but have continued to affect the history of Chinese nationalism in modern times. Polachek looks closely at the networks of literati and officials, self-consciously reminiscent of the late Ming era, that sought and gained the ear of the emperor. Challenging the conventional view that Lin Tse-hsu and his supporters... more Why did defeat in the Opium War not lead Ch'ing China to a more realistic appreciation of Western might and Chinese weakness? James Polachek's revisionist analysis exposes the behind-the-scenes political struggles that not only shaped foreign-policy decisions in the 1830s and 1840s but have continued to affect the history of Chinese nationalism in modern times. Polachek looks closely at the networks of literati and officials, self-consciously reminiscent of the late Ming era, that sought and gained the ear of the emperor. Challenging the conventional view that Lin Tse-hsu and his supporters were selfless patriots who acted in China's best interests, Polachek argues that, for reasons having more to do with their own domestic political agenda, these men advocated a futile policy of militant resistance to the West. Linking political intrigue, scholarly debates, and foreign affairs, local notables in Canton and literati lobbyists in Peking, this book sets the Opium War for the first time in its "inner, " domestic political context. less Julia LovellPolachek behaves a little like a detective in this book, picking his way through an intricate, opaque mass of internal Chinese sources, policy debates and abstruse connections between members of the imperial bureaucracy – which make you think that not very much has changed in Chinese politics over the last 150 years. (Source)
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3
This book tells the fascinating story of the war between England and China that delivered Hong Kong to the English, forced the imperial Chinese government to add four ports to Canton as places in which foreigners could live and trade, and rendered irreversible the process that for almost a century thereafter distinguished western relations with this quarter of the globe-- the process that is loosely termed the opening of China.
Originally published by UNC Press in 1975, Peter Ward Fay's study was the first to treat extensively the opium trade from the point of production in India to the... more This book tells the fascinating story of the war between England and China that delivered Hong Kong to the English, forced the imperial Chinese government to add four ports to Canton as places in which foreigners could live and trade, and rendered irreversible the process that for almost a century thereafter distinguished western relations with this quarter of the globe-- the process that is loosely termed the opening of China.
Originally published by UNC Press in 1975, Peter Ward Fay's study was the first to treat extensively the opium trade from the point of production in India to the point of consumption in China and the first to give both Protestant and Catholic missionaries their due; it remains the most comprehensive account of the first Opium War through western eyes. In a new preface, Fay reflects on the relationship between the events described in the book and Hong Kong's more recent history. less Julia LovellThis book is hugely readable, because of its sure grasp of historical narrative…it spells out very clearly the trade triangle involving opium, tea and silver between India, China and Britain. (Source)
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4
Drug epidemics are clearly not just a peculiar feature of modern life; the opium trade in the nineteenth century tells us a great deal about Asian herion traffic today. In an age when we are increasingly aware of large scale drug use, this book takes a long look at the history of our relationship with mind-altering substances. Engagingly written, with lay readers as much as specialists in mind, this book will be fascinating reading for historians, social scientists, as well as those involved in Asian studies, or economic history. more Drug epidemics are clearly not just a peculiar feature of modern life; the opium trade in the nineteenth century tells us a great deal about Asian herion traffic today. In an age when we are increasingly aware of large scale drug use, this book takes a long look at the history of our relationship with mind-altering substances. Engagingly written, with lay readers as much as specialists in mind, this book will be fascinating reading for historians, social scientists, as well as those involved in Asian studies, or economic history. less Julia LovellCarl Trocki explains how economically central opium was to the building and maintaining of the Empire. (Source)
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5
To this day, the perception persists that China was a civilization defeated by imperialist Britain's most desirable trade commodity, opium—a drug that turned the Chinese into cadaverous addicts in the grip of dependence. Britain, in an effort to reverse the damage caused by opium addiction, launched its own version of a war on drugs, which lasted roughly 60 years, from 1880 to WWII & the beginning of Chinese communism. But, as Narcotic Culture shows, the real scandal in Chinese history wasn't the expansion of the drug trade by Britain in the early 19th century, but rather the... more To this day, the perception persists that China was a civilization defeated by imperialist Britain's most desirable trade commodity, opium—a drug that turned the Chinese into cadaverous addicts in the grip of dependence. Britain, in an effort to reverse the damage caused by opium addiction, launched its own version of a war on drugs, which lasted roughly 60 years, from 1880 to WWII & the beginning of Chinese communism. But, as Narcotic Culture shows, the real scandal in Chinese history wasn't the expansion of the drug trade by Britain in the early 19th century, but rather the failure of the British to grasp the consequences of prohibition. In an historical reversal, Frank Dikötter, Lars Laamann & Zhou Xun tell this different story of the relationship between opium & the Chinese. They reveal that opium actually had few harmful effects on either health or longevity; in fact, it was prepared & appreciated in highly complex rituals with inbuilt constraints preventing excessive use. Opium was even used as a medicinal panacea in China before the availability of aspirin & penicillin. But as a result of the British effort to eradicate it, the Chinese turned from the relatively benign use of that drug to heroin, morphine, cocaine & countless other psychoactive substances. Narcotic Culture provides evidence that the transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition produced a cure that was far worse than the disease. Delving into a history of drugs & their abuses, Narcotic Culture is part revisionist history of imperial & 20th-century Britain & part portrait of the dangers of prohibition.
Acknowledgements
Conventions
Introduction
The global spread of psychoactive substances c. 1600-1900
Opium before the 'Opium War' c. 1600-1840
Opium for the people: status, space & consumption c. 1840-1940
The best possible & sure shield: Opium, disease & epidemics c. 1840-1940
War on drugs: prohibition & the rise of narcophobia c. 1880-1940
Curing the addict: prohibition & detoxification c. 1880-1940
Pills & powders: the spread of semi-synthetic opiates c. 1900-40
Needle lore: the syringe in China c. 1890-1950
China's other drugs c. 1900-50
Conclusion
Bibliography
Character List
Index less Julia LovellThis book is very informative and thought-provoking in its discussions of the substance over which the war was fought. Opium was an illegal narcotic in China from the 18th century onwards, and the Chinese state crackdown against it particularly intensified during the 1830s. The standard narrative about opium – both in modern China and in a more muted way in the West – has long been that it was an... (Source)
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