When I was at junior school, we were fed a diet of state-approved history. Even then we could see how much it was slanted to show the white settlers in a positive light. Similarly, the British colonial adventures were always presented as such - the exotic adventures of free-rolling, high-minded imperialists who were out to civilize the "natives". When I got to high school, history was plain dull and boring, so I dropped it - they seemed to focus exclusively on European history.As I have got older, I have started revisiting some of this material - one of the writers I have come across is a guy called Niall Ferguson, who is a young history professor who has put together some interesting work on the British Empire - called "Empire" - was a BBC or ITN series, and I am just reading his new book called the War of the World, examining the root causes of conflict in the last century. I recommend him because of his easy style, and incisive commentary - have leant a lot from reading his work.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0713997087/qid=1150993536/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl?tag2=niallferguson-21
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