A NEW YORK TIMES NEW STATESMAN HISTORY TODAY AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEARMasterly... This book is dynamite ROBERT GILDEA author of Empires of the MindShortlisted for the Baillie Gifford PrizeWinner of the NYUAxinn Foundation PrizeA searing landmark study of the British Empire that lays bare its pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century.Drawing on more than a decade of research on four continents Caroline Elkins reveals the dark heart of Britains Empire a racialised systemised doctrine of unrelenting violence which it used to secure and maintain its interests across the globe.When Britain could no longer maintain control over that violence it simply retreated and sought to destroy the evidence. Legacy of Violence is a monumental achievement that explodes longheld myths and deserves the attention of anyone who seeks to understand empires role in shaping the world today.Not so much a history book as a book of historical significance BBC History MagazineRiveting New Statesman Crucial...as unflinching as it is gripping as carefully researched as it is urgently necessary Jill Lepore author of These Truths