History On Trial- Rethinking the Legacy of the British Empire

On the Map, Off the Radar

Harvard Professor and Pulitzer-Prize winning author Caroline Elkins discusses how a 2013 case filed against the British Foreign Commonwealth Office by elderly Kenyans who were tortured in British concentration camps led to the unearthing of hidden archives that revealed a previously secret insight into the gruesome nature of the British colonial past. Elkins discusses the role she played in uncovering these documents and the implications that the case and newly discovered archives have on re-thinking a history that many have come to accept as fact. To read more about the case, check out Elkins's piece in the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/21/kenya-british-empire-myths-historians And information on Elkins's book, "Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya." http://www.amazon.co.uk/Imperial-Reckoning-Untold-Story-Britains/dp/0805080015