The Coenor Diamond, a Book of Historical Relevance, by Caroline Elkins

Caroline Elkins' Legacies of Violence is a pretty comprehensive history. It needs to be read as part of a spectrum of reading that looks at the centrality of violence and coercion in understanding how the empire worked, but also transnational elements. And I'd contrast one book which perhaps shows another side of the story, which is important. Those are the diaries just published a few weeks ago of Chris Patton, the last colonial governor of Hong Kong. They're actually a very wickedly witty read in many ways,. The pattern is absolutely clear that the violence through which Hong Kong was obtained in 1842 is not something that should be forgiven or forgotten. But what is also very clear there