The Historiography of the British Empire-Commonwealth: Trends, Interpretations, and Resources

Winks, Robin W., Ed., The Historiography of the British Empire-Commonwealth: Trends, Interpretations, and Resources, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1966.

Reviewed at Pacific Affairs © 1966.

From the Inner Sleeve:

These twenty-one historiographical essays comprehensively survey the changing trends in scholarship on the British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. Written by acknowledged authorities in the regional areas, they provide critical assessments of the literature now available. Factors which affect the character of scholarship are considered: the size of libraries, governmental censorship, archives and their organization, language barriers, preservation of historical sites, and national attitudes toward education and history. Emphasis has been placed on studies of the period since the beginning of World War II. George Bennett writes on British East Africa, Robert O. Collins on Egypt and the Sudan, Robert I. Crane on India, Edith Dobie on Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus, John S. Galbraith on the Empire since 1783, K.W. Goonewardena on Ceylon, Joseph Jones on Commonwealth literature, William Roger Louis on the mandates system, Kenneth A. MacKirdy on Autralia, Robert L. Middlekauff on the American colonies, Helen F. Mulvey on Ireland’s Commonwealth years, George Shepperson on British Central Africa, Keith Sinclair on New Zealand, Damodar P. Singhal on Pakistan, Leonard M. Thompson on South Africa, Hugh Tinker on Burma. C. Mary Turnbull on Malaysia, D.A.G. Waddell on the British West Indies, John M. Ward on the British territories in the Pacific, Robin W. Winks on Canada, and Harrison M. Wright on British West Africa.