History
Far from seeking to abolish history, critical reexaminations of Britain’s past can deepen our understanding of the present. In Britain Alone (Faber), Philip Stephens shows that the last 70 years have exposed the nation’s fears about sovereignty and a lost past. Britain has often romanticised its place in the world. Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland (Viking) argues passionately that our identity has been shaped for the worse by empire, and that we must do more to debunk national myths. For example, Britain defeated Hitler in the Second World War only with the help of thousands of soldiers from the empire.