There can never be a single, satisfactory comprehensive account of the ‘history of the British empire.’ Linda Colley Read Quote
I’m struck by how impressively John Elliott assimilated new work on early modern England and colonial America, as well as keeping abreast with his own Hispanic studies, so as to write his recent ‘Empires of the Atlantic World.’ Linda Colley Read Quote
One of the benefits of working outside the U.K. is that I don’t have to keep fielding media/politicians’ enquiries about ‘Britishness’ and its ills. Linda Colley Read Quote
Once you know how completely and suddenly the earth can open up at your feet and the worst can happen, it also, paradoxically, leaves you more afraid of everything else. Linda Colley Read Quote
Too close and unthinking an allegiance to Washington has sometimes got British governments into trouble. Linda Colley Read Quote
From the American Revolution right up to the Second World War, the U.S. was more likely to provoke suspicion among members of the British establishment than deferential approval. It was seen – with good cause – not just as a potential rival for empire, but also as dangerously egalitarian, worryingly innovatory, and excessively democratic. Linda Colley Read Quote
In the past, rulers led their troops into battle and, even in peacetime, called themselves fathers of their people. And modern politics retains abundant masculine rituals. Prime minister’s question time in Britain, for instance, is a stylised duel and tournament redolent of testosterone. Linda Colley Read Quote
Much of how Americans have always understood their history, culture, and identity depends on positioning Europe as the ‘other,’ as that ‘old world’ against which they define themselves. Linda Colley Read Quote
Like the proverbial elephant in the room, American anti-Europeanism has loomed large for so long that few trouble to notice it. Linda Colley Read Quote
