Description

‘[A] comprehensive and important history of black Britain . . . Written with a wonderful clarity of style and with great force and passion.’ Kwasi Kwarteng, Sunday Times

In this vital re-examination of a shared history, historian and broadcaster David Olusoga tells the rich and revealing story of the long relationship between the British Isles and the people of Africa and the Caribbean.

Drawing on new genealogical research, original records, and expert testimony, Black and British reaches back to Roman Britain, the medieval imagination, Elizabethan ‘blackamoors’ and the global slave-trading empire. It shows that the great industrial boom of the nineteenth century was built on American slavery, and that black Britons fought at Trafalgar and in the trenches of both World Wars. Black British history is woven into the cultural and economic histories of the nation. It is not a singular history, but one that belongs to us all.

Unflinching, confronting taboos and revealing hitherto unknown scandals, Olusoga describes how the lives of black and white Britons have been entwined for centuries.

Winner of the 2017 PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize.
Winner of the Longman History Today Trustees’ Award.
A Waterstones.com History Book of the Year.
Longlisted for the Orwell Prize.
Shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Prize.

Publisher Review

Ambitious . . . Long overdue -- Hakim Adi * Spectator * An insightful, inclusive history of black people in Britain which is rich in detail and packed with strong, interesting characters. -- Stephanie Yeboah * GQ * An insightful, inclusive history of black people in Britain . . . Rich in detail and packed with strong personalities, this is an important contribution to our understanding of life in the UK. * History Revealed * Olusoga's account challenges narrow visions of Britain's past. By tracing the triangulated connections between Britain, America and Africa, he presents black British history in global terms [...] His subjects, even those who barely figure in the historical record, appear as individuals who matter, both in their own right and as historical exemplars. * The London Review of Books * Lucid and accessible. * Herald Scotland * [Olusoga] has discovered new and exciting research materials [which] give his writing freshness, originality and compassion . . . [Black and British] will inspire and will come to be seen as a major effort to address one of the greatest silences in British historiography * New Statesman * A thrilling tale of excavation -- Colin Grant * Guardian * A radical reappraisal of the parameters of history, exposing lacunae in the nation's version of its past. -- Arifa Akbar * Guardian * [A] comprehensive and important history of black Britain . . . Written with a wonderful clarity of style and with great force and passion. It is thoroughly researched and there are many interesting anecdotes. -- Kwasi Kwarteng * The Sunday Times * Groundbreaking. * Observer * You could not ask for a more judicious, comprehensive and highly readable survey of a part of British history that has been so long overlooked or denied. David Olusoga, in keeping with the high standards of his earlier books, is a superb guide. -- Adam Hochschild