Ruling passions

Based on eye-witness accounts and personal memories of colonials and native people, and focusing mainly on India and Africa, this is a sexual and racial history of the British Empire; a history of mixed marriages and mistresses, of brothels and missionaries, and of memsahibs and concubines. Anton Gill argues that sex and race in the context of the Empire reveal much about the true nature of British imperialist ambitions, and that, from the first colonial outpost to the mid-20th century, sexual attitudes at home influenced the behaviour of the colonials abroad. Whether they were taking advantage of greater sexual freedom or trying to prevent any interaction with the local population, sex was, according to the author, a major issue for those who ruled the Empire.