The Last Man: A British Genocide in Tasmania - Rilegato

Lawson, Tom

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1780766262 ISBN 13: 9781780766263

Casa editrice: Tauris Academic Studies, 2014

Riassunto

Little more than seventy years after the British settled Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania) in 1803, its indigenous population had been virtually wiped out. Yet this genocide – one of the earliest of the modern era – is virtually forgotten in Britain today. The Last Man is the first book specifically to explore the role of the British government and wider society in the destruction of the Aboriginal Tasmanians. Although the introduction of European diseases undoubtedly contributed to the decline of the indigenous population, Tom Lawson shows that Britain supported what was effectively the ethnic cleansing of Tasmania – particularly in the period of martial law in 1828-1832. He also illustrates the ways in which the destruction of indigenous Tasmanians was reflected in British culture – both at the time and since – and how it came to play a key part in forging particular versions of British imperial identity. The Last Man provides the first comprehensive picture of Britain's role in the destruction of the Tasmanian Aboriginal population.

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Recensione:

'Insightful and succinct throughout... all must engage with, not ignore, the arguments of a book with as much to say about the inherent logic of British imperialism as about the fate of the men, women and children long cast as the last of their line.'
Simon Sleight, BBC History Magazine

'This clearly-written, accessible and strongly-argued book contends that the British Government committed genocide in Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania and, by implication, in other parts of the British Empire. This study, whilst obviously controversial, provides an important contribution to the current public debate that is reassessing the record of the British Empire following the recent emergence of new archival sources.'
[John S. Connor, author of The Australian Frontier Wars]

'The Last Man enhances our knowledge of British imperial history as it played out in one of its most distant colonies, Tasmania. It shows how British policies and practice meant that Aboriginal society there was almost destroyed. In using the international scholarship on genocide along with its own original and detailed empirical historical study, it reminds us of the enormity of what happened. As if that were not enough, The Last Man then goes on to show how understandings of this Tasmanian genocide have since reverberated through British culture, right up to the present. In doing so, it asks us to reconsider the nature and meaning of British history for us now.'
--[Ann Curthoys, author of Freedom Ride]

"The Last Man enhances our knowledge of British imperial history as it played out in one of its most distant colonies, Tasmania. It shows how British policies and practice meant that Aboriginal society there was almost destroyed. In using the international scholarship on genocide along with its own original and detailed empirical historical study, it reminds us of the enormity of what happened. As if that were not enough, The Last Man then goes on to show how understandings of this Tasmanian genocide have since reverberated through British culture, right up to the present. In doing so, it asks us to reconsider the nature and meaning of British history for us now." ---[Ann Curthoys, author of Freedom Ride]

L'autore:

Tom Lawson is Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Winchester, UK. He is the author of Debates on the Holocaust and The Church of England and the Holocaust: Christianity, Memory and Nazism.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Tauris Academic Studies
• Data di pubblicazione: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1780766262
• ISBN 13: 9781780766263
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 263