The Games Ethic and Imperialism
Victor Bailey reviews two titles on Empire and Culture.
- The Games Ethic and Imperialism
J.A. Mangan - Viking, 1985 – 239pp - £14.95 - Imperialism and Popular Culture
Edited by John M. MacKenzie - Manchester University Press, 1986 – 264pp - £25
The subject of these two fascinating books is popular imperialism between the 1870s and the 1940s. Dr Mangan extends his earlier study of the games ethic in the public schools by tracing the diffusion of the ethic to selected parts of the British Empire. The ten historians in John MacKenzie's book examine a range of popular cultural forms, in order to assess the reach and endurance of imperial sentiment. The role of imperialism in social history, as distinct from political, strategic or economic history, is finally attracting historians of worth.
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