Imperial Underworld : An Escaped Convict and the Transformation of the British Colonial Order Paperback / softback
by Kirsten (University of Sydney) McKenzie
Part of the Critical Perspectives on Empire series
Paperback / softback
Description
During a major overhaul of British imperial policy following the Napoleonic Wars, an escaped convict reinvented himself as an improbable activist, renowned for his exposes of government misconduct and corruption in the Cape Colony and New South Wales.
Charting scandals unleashed by the man known variously as Alexander Loe Kaye and William Edwards, Imperial Underworld offers a radical new account of the legal, constitutional and administrative transformations that unfolded during the British colonial order of the 1820s.
In a narrative rife with daring jail breaks, infamous agents provocateurs, and allegations of sexual deviance, Professor Kirsten McKenzie argues that such colourful and salacious aspects of colonial administrations cannot be separated from the real business of political and social change.
The book instead highlights the importance of taking gossip, paranoia, factional infighting and political spin seriously to show the extent to which ostensibly marginal figures and events influenced the transformation of the nineteenth-century British Empire.
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:330 pages, 1 Maps; 10 Halftones, black and white
- Publisher:Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date:14/01/2016
- Category:
- ISBN:9781107686793
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:330 pages, 1 Maps; 10 Halftones, black and white
- Publisher:Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date:14/01/2016
- Category:
- ISBN:9781107686793
