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One Fine Day
- Britain's Empire on the Brink
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 27 hrs and 11 mins
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One Fine Day
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Summary
THE STORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE AT ITS MAXIMUM TERRITORIAL EXTENT
On Saturday 29 September 1923, the Palestine Mandate became law and the British Empire now covered a scarcely credible quarter of the world's land mass, containing 460 million people. It was the largest empire the world had ever seen. But it was beset by debt and doubts.
This book is a new way of looking at the British Empire. It immerses the reader in the contemporary moment, focusing on particular people and stories from that day, gleaned from newspapers, letters, diaries, official documents, magazines, films and novels: from a remote Pacific island facing the removal of its entire soil, across Australia, Burma, India and Kenya to London and the West Indies.
In some ways, the issues of a hundred years ago are with us still: debates around cultural and ethnic identity in a globalised world; how to manage multi-ethnic political entities; racism; the divisive co-opting of religion for political purposes; the dangers of ignorance. In others, it is totally alien. What remains extraordinary is the Empire's ability to reveal the most compelling human stories. Never before has there been a book which contains such a wide spread of vivid experiences from both colonised and coloniser: from the grandest governors to the humblest migrants, policemen and nurses.
Critic reviews
'Breathtaking... vital and important. A wonderful read' PETER FRANKOPAN
'Marvellous... escapes the inane, balance-sheet view of Empire and sees its full complexity' SATHNAM SANGHERA
'Excellent... his mastery of detail is impeccable' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, Sunday Times
What listeners say about One Fine Day
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Issy Isaacs
- 08-02-24
Great Listen
An excellent way to show how the British Empire went to seed. Recommend to anyone wanting to know about the British Empire
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- veyza
- 11-11-23
Eclectic
A personal selection of key events around the peak of the geographical extent of the British Empire. The author falls down a series of historical rabbit holes. The retelling of the Amritsar Massacre pulls no punches, I found the the story of Marcus Garvey and the Blackstar Shipping Line fascinating. I would have liked more on Southern Africa. If you are a Brit like me, you won’t be left glowing with pride but you will be the wiser about for it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- K. Gholam
- 21-03-24
A unique perspective on Empire
The book gives a fascinating insight into many parts of the British Empire on one day, but also describes how each country got to that point. Using some key characters from its history brings what might be a set of disparate stories together eg Sir Hugh Clifford’s various roles, and also makes the telling of the story very personal. I came away from this book feeling that Britain didn’t set out to wrong our Empire, but ended up doing so because of our arrogance, avarice and ignorance.
The narration was sympathetic, with the slight caveat that the pauses between phrases were often unnaturally long.
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