Uncommon Wealth, Kojo Koram
Uncommon Wealth, Kojo Koram
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Uncommon Wealth
Britain and the Aftermath of Empire

Author: Kojo Koram

Narrator: Kojo Koram

Unabridged: 10 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: John Murray

Published: 02/17/2022

Synopsis

'BRILLIANTLY ARRANGED AND RICH WITH FRESH INSIGHTS, UNCOMMON WEALTH REMINDS US HOW THE FORGOTTEN STORIES OF EMPIRE AND DECOLONISATION CONTINUE TO IMPACT OUR DAILY LIVES IN BRITAIN - AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD - UP TO TODAY' AKALA

Britain didn't just put the empire back the way it had found it.

In Uncommon Wealth, Kojo Koram traces the tale of how after the end of the British empire an interconnected group of well-heeled British intellectuals, politicians, accountants and lawyers offshored their capital, seized assets and saddled debt in former 'dependencies'. This enabled horrific inequality across the globe as ruthless capitalists profited and ordinary people across Britain's former territories in colonial Africa, Asia and the Caribbean were trapped in poverty. However, the reinforcement of capitalist power across the world also ricocheted back home. Now it has left many Britons wondering where their own sovereignty and prosperity has gone...

Decolonisation was not just a trendy buzzword. It was one of the great global changes of the past hundred years, yet Britain - the protagonist in the whole, messy drama - has forgotten it was ever even there. A blistering uncovering of the scandal of Britain's disastrous treatment of independent countries after empire, Uncommon Wealth shows the decisions of decades past are contributing to the forces that are breaking Britain today.

(P) Hodder & Stoughton Limited

About Kojo Koram

Kojo Koram is an author and Professor, teaching at the School of Law at Loughborough University. Born in Accra, Ghana and raised on Merseyside, he is now based in London. In addition to his academic writing, he has written for the New Statesman, Guardian and New York Times. He is the author of Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire (John Murray, 2022). His first book Uncommon Wealth won the English PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize, was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing and was chosen as a Guardian book of the year.

Reviews

Goodreads review by BookOfCinz on February 27, 2024

I saw the author Kojo Koram speak at Ake Literary Festival and I had to get a copy of his book. This is what I call required reading. Koram does an exceptional job of showcasing how Britain continues to use captialism to exploit other countries. It was in read this book that I learnt about how Briti......more

Goodreads review by Amit on March 07, 2022

Could not put this down. Kojo takes the reader on a journey through time and space. Not only is this incredibly informative, but it is beautifully written. Weaving in personal stories from Koram's time in Ghana, Koram brilliantly connects history to the present in ways that would leave any reader di......more

Goodreads review by Sasha on March 14, 2023

this book really helped to clarify what I knew and offer further insight into the way the legacy of empire is the capitalist system we live in today, as well as equip me with specific examples for using in any debate. it was deeply depressing in the repeating story of attempts and failures to make a......more

Goodreads review by Keenan on September 11, 2022

A multifaceted look at the ways the institutions, laws, and beliefs that made up the nucleus of the British Empire have continued to reverberate in the present day, both in the decolonized Third World and in a boomerang fashion the UK itself. We learn about the colonial-minded politicians who helped......more

Goodreads review by Jess on June 14, 2023

Incredibly well written, researched and presented book, read for a book club and it was both greatly informative and a great source of conversation HIGHLY RECC......more

Quotes

Brilliantly arranged and rich with fresh insights, Uncommon Wealth reminds us how the forgotten stories of empire and decolonisation continue to impact our daily lives in Britain - and throughout the world - up to today.

A radical, beautifully written understanding of our history - ingeniously placing Britain's recent tumult into context

You can't understand how Britain works today without reading it

Unflinching and lucidly written, Uncommon Wealth challenges everything you thought you knew about the British Empire and its legacy. This book should be part of the national curriculum

A challenge to a nation living in the shadow of empire: reckon with your imperial past, or it will come back to bite you . . . Stirring, rigorous and readable

Compelling and masterful . . . Perfectly timed for a moment when more are recognizing that the past is not past, the legacies of empire are profound, and another world is possible

Brilliant, illuminating, often surprising and shocking, Kojo Koram's careful and sensitive telling of the stories that so many of us do not know is a masterpiece

An ambitious blend of history, memoir and current affairs - Koram's superb and combative account shows how Britain's near-past can explain its present predicament. A fascinating account of the British Empire written with an exciting blend of passion and scholarship

Uncommon Wealth brilliantly exposes the imperial origins of much of Britain's contemporary crisis. Koram shows how the empire ordered overseas a structure of law, property, economic institutions and citizenship, which came home

By carefully dissecting the economic legacy of the British Empire, Koram has exposed some troubling home truths about the causes and effects of the very unequal world in which we live. A fascinating history, Koram's unique perspective sheds new light on an old problem

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