Uploaded June 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Time for some nonfiction! This was intended to be my first nonfiction list before the Black Lives Matter protest changed things a little and I thought I'd offer you a few books on #Colonialism, something that affects our lives to this day without most of us being aware of it. The choices here range from deeply academic to quick, enraging weekend reads:

0:00 No, There's No Upside to Colonialism, Don't @ Me
1:23 Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nīno Famines and the Making of the Third World
5:37 Empire of Cotton: A Global History
7:53 Churchill's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India During World War II
10:01 A Small Place

but first -

FIGHT HUNGER, DONATE:
Cyclone Amphan Relief for the Sunderbans: milaap.org/fundraisers/support-sgea-2?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=fundraisers-title
Cyclone Amphan Relief for Bengal: ketto.org/fundraiser/rebuild-bengal?payment=form
No Kid Hungry: nokidhungry.org
The Hunger Project: thp.org
Feeding America: feedingamerica.org

FURTHER READING:
LATE VICTORIAN HOLOCAUSTS by Mike Davis
Goodreads: goodreads.com/book/show/7859.Late_Victorian_Holocausts
Review by Amartya Sen in the NYT: archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/18/reviews/010218.18senlt.html
Chapter One: archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/d/davis-victorian.html

EMPIRE OF COTTON by Sven Beckert
Goodreads: goodreads.com/book/show/20758057-empire-of-cotton
Article in The Atlantic: theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/12/empire-of-cotton/383660

CHURCHILL'S SECRET WAR by Madhusree Mukerjee
Goodreads: goodreads.com/book/show/8890989-churchill-s-secret-war

A SMALL PLACE by Jamaica Kincaid
Goodreads: goodreads.com/book/show/69711.A_Small_Place