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Amazon UK Book Review: Xenaphobic Claptrap!! 08/26/2008

I've never in my life read such a load of badly research rubbish in my entire life. The author has some serious issues with us Brits but in the words of Catherine Tate - Am I bovered! Seriously though avoid this book like the plague, I'm sorry I wasted my money on it - don't waste yours. Posted By: Caththo

Letter to the ICBR: Give it up 08/21/2008

You know you're not going to get a single penny out of the British government, Steven Grasse's book should have been called "Benevolent Empire: 101 way that Britain made the world a better place" without us computers, lightbulbs, cars, trains, electronics, telephones, tanks, battleships, a unified India and many other things simply would not exist. All empires have done bad things (not least the Spanish empire) but the crimes of the British Empire spiral into insignificance compared with others. the good the Empire did far outweighs the bad. All the sarcastic insults we throw at Americans from time to time are nothing compared with the insults thrown at us in this book, Mr. Grasse has ridiculed the Monarchy, our music industry, our inventions and innovations, our Commonwealth, the best armed forces in the world (Our troops generally shoot at the enemy, not at each other) and everything else that makes the United Kingdom so great, Grasse's assertion that the British caused the Vietnam war is merely guilt by association, the Spanish and the Dutch were bigger on slavery than us and we didn't commit any genocide. We didn't support the Confederacy in the civil war, we gave our passive support, if we had helped them in the war they would have won. Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character and our selling of opium to the Chinese was no different from American companies selling hamburgers in our high streets, Either grow up, or go and play in traffic Steven A. Grasse (Does the A. stand for Arsehole?)- Ted, a proud Brit August 21, 2008 Dear Ted, Youll be delighted to know that weve received thousands of letters from your fellow proud Brits making many of the same baseless arguments. Sadly, youre not the only idiotic inhabitant of that infernal island. It seems that your government and educational institutions have done a wonderful job of drilling pro-British propaganda into your inferior psyches. In plain English, the reason Mr. Grasse has placed so much ridicule on every British thing you mention is because all of those things are well deserving of ridicule. Perhaps before taking the time out of your fetid existence to write such a letter, you should spend an appropriate amount of time getting your history straight. Correspondence from imbeciles like you only strengthens our resolve. The British must pay! Regards, The ICBR

Amazon Review- Londonistan and Lad Culture 08/19/2008

Yes, this is a polemic. Not "objective history". I recently saw a book here in the bookstore called 100 Ways America is Ruining the World. There seem to be a spate of these books. Some are kind of amusing. By taking an extreme viewpoint, the author has engaged in a fun, interesting polemic against England in history. It is interesting that this book is against "England", and not "Britain", so I assume, the Scots and Welsh, and of course the Irish can get in on the "Pom-bashing". The book is basically an attack on what Britain has done historically, all juxtaposed with funny cartoons. Aside from the obvious things like driving on the left side of the road and eating baked beans for breakfast, I would like to see the following put into the Second Edition: - The Irish Holocaust (1840s) in which the English basically tried to ethnically cleanse Ireland of Irish people. Leading to the 'Potato Famine'. - Amritsar, in which a British army unit fired indescriminately into a crowd of unarmed protesters in India (also 1800s). The modern version of this is the "Paras" firing into unarmed crowds in Northern Ireland in 1972 ("Bloody Sunday"). - The fact that the British MI5 and MI6 have been able to monitor all domestic activities, and then arrest suspects (the IRA, etc.) and detain them without real charges, and even use "coercion" (i.e. torture) against them. This is exactly the kind of thing the Brits accuse the U.S. and Bush of doing. The only thing is, the Brits have been doing this for 40 years. - Moral crusades: the campaign against fox hunting comes to mind. Animal activists have basically rid England of fox hunting. Result: the population of foxes in Britain has fallen drastically. Good job, animal rights people ! (someone once made the comment that an Englishman is someone who likes animals more than people). Add into the mix various environmental and 'animal rights' fanatics, who threaten people working in the biotech sector (in which animal testing is required sometimes to find cures for human disease and thus save lives). Some of them are just terrorists, really. Another example: the current campaign to wipe out private gun ownership in Britain. Result ?: gun crime is soaring in Britain. - The entire "Looney Left". Stalinistic union bosses. MPs who travel to Iraq and smooch with Saddam, etc. BBC reporters covering Hezbollah (Iranian terrorist organization) and are wild with enthusiasm, as if it were their first pop music concert, etc. Fanatical leftwing anti-Semitism. Blaming the U.S. and Israel for all the world's ills. - The "Beeb". The BBC is paid for by the taxpayer, and, I have mentioned, is basically a media source for the most hysterical anti-U.S. and anti-Israel viewpoints. All paid for by the British taxpayer. The entire farce about the BBC being "impartial". Total joke. - "Lad Culture": the English gave us the modern cultural phenomenon of grown men drinking themselves to oblivion and then acting like 13-year olds. This is known as being a "lad". Maxim magazine, FHM, etc. all support this wonderful contribution to world culture. - Drinking to oblivion. Most cultures drink. The modern English have perfected drinking at dangerous levels, and until the liver basically fails. Liver failure and cirrhosis are now not totally uncommon even in teenagers in Britain. Way to pace yourself, guys. The 11-o'clock "closing time" is alternately cited as the cause, or the solution to this. - Hooliganism and "anti-social behavior". Seems to be an epidemic in Jolly Olde Englande. I read a letter recently to the "Economist" in which a guy from New York said that in New York, people go out to bars to have a good time. In London, he noticed a type of "seething violence" just under the surface, and every "lad" seemed to want to fight. - "Londonistan": the British taxpayer basically pays for mosques and "community centers" for the "communities". Sometimes, this basically means, financially supporting Islamofascist terrorism, either directly, or indirectly. All the while, London has become a center for terrorism and jihad. The Americans, French and other nations complain. The English pat themselves on the back for being so morally "tolerant" and superior. This is extremely annoying (not to mention, dangerous). Note: This alone is reason to say that the English are ruining the world. - Cricket (the game) - Warm beer - "The Queen of England is the richest woman in the world. What exactly does she DO again ?" - Kevin Klein, in "A Fish Called Wanda". By: John

Amazon UK Book Review: A discourse on the stupidity and ignorance of Americans 08/11/2008

Speaking as an Englishman with American relatives I have to say that this book is not just insulting but amazing in its bias historical views. History is not about doing people down and insulting the living for what their country has done in the past. The book itself includes many correct spellings and has some good punctuation. It is also possible to read this book. However the writter has misinterpreted many historical events and does not perpetuate to see two sides of the coin. Personally this book makes me want to join Islam and enter a Jihad against the Americans. I never liked the look of the White house, perhaps I could get a plane.................... By: A. Gillahan

Youtube Comments- England: Evil Empire- Coalition for British Reparations 08/05/2008

gerhardblucher Britain rules, America is ok, but whoever these reperation freaks are really do suck arse, in fact they are probably subhumans RebelVoDKa Wales and Scotland oppressed by Britain? Along with England, they ARE Britain. You also mix nationalities with religion. There are such things as British Jews and Catholics. In fact, Britain was a Catholic country for centuries. I presume this is a joke; shame it isn't funnny. RebelVoDKa "The British invented the Concentration Camp" Actually, the Americans were using them in all but name to contain the Cherokee decades before we used them on the Boers. We just invented the expression. scorpain2006 part 2: Britain did not make the all the mess in the world, the countries that where part of the empire are now responsible for themselves. You may blame britain for educating President Robert Mugabe, bin laden but it is them alone who decided to act in the way they did. British Reparations and the book are nothing more an a bitch contest. please says anything if you disagree with me? scorpain2006 part 1: I think the reason for these countries suffering in our time now is mostly because the empire crumbled. "Don't blame America for the mess you made Britain" WRONG(and I don't) burnsesuit I would have thought being the only country to stand up to Hitler and Nazi Germany, until America and the Soviet Union came into the picture, Britain paid its debt to the world. By the way, Britain did nothing different than what France did so where's the bitching about France. The British could have been a lot worse like the Japanese or the Soviet Union when they expanded but they weren't. supanoobles Ironic how he wants Britain to pay money to all Americans when Britain only set up 11 states in America. cerebulon Perhaps we are lazy, but at least we are not too lazy to know the difference between too, to, and two. Jinchad10 these are not from around the world. its a small group of americans to lazy to work. and just so you know make all the petitions and demands you like. you will NEVER get a penny EVER BritishSupremecy Meh britain is hardly the Worst wat about the japenese who deluded there countries son to kill themselves 4 there country?The Russians who Said that a russian soldier must push forward & if he comes back he will be shot?The spanish Who Destroyed the Cultures of south America?The 3 Reich who Killed Millions in Massacres!Zimbawe which is Starving its on people!We should not Focus on the Bad taht has come from these countries but the Good.

Youtube Comments- England: The Evil Empire 07/30/2008

magicjames99 Actually your wrong there as we were the ones who invented the term " concentration camps". During the boer war which thousands of boers died from because of lack of food and medical care. Also we seemed to one be one of the few powers which was able oppress territories around the world and also if you look on an map we didn't give them countries instead we decided to draw lines on territories in what we thought should a resonable size to manage. and eventually those territories got independence 512James the british empire started with the English and started in france we owned alot of france due to our armies. plus "they had no legal rights to these land" and empire is started by invading let's look at america!! INVADED VIETNAM FOR NO REASON britain reached the part where it wanted to travel and own more land and not be treated as pathetics posh ppl america is more of the war starter and envoiromental issue don't give me tht bullshit america isn't the greatest country the world Britain is =]] 360Rod0 how did the british put saddam hussein in power of iraq , what bullshit , ok iraq was part of the british empire and we gave them independance in 1932 , decades before saddam got into power , so we can't of put him in power duh jjohnston2567 Britain did not support the Confederacy in the american civil war, otherwise they would have won. sdfghjkl08 yeah - you gave 2 pounds with you right hand and took away 10 with you left. we fed the poor - my arse. nicknag321 When Britain had its empire, we fed the poor, we built them cities, created new roads, railways, provided markets, trade and wealth to spread through the world. we pushed the world through technological changes, we caused the industrial revolution. we've invented virtually everything. the only mess that came about was when we stoped running the world. america abolished slavery way after britain did. in fact america has been a rubbish world leader. no inovation or progression. lancashireUK And Ireland.......and most other EUROPEAN nations. lancashireUK I wish American's would be taught true history rather than biased history with added "American Pride" bias installed in it. How do you think America and Australia become the great countries they are today and not run by tribes? That's right, thanks to British people and other European nations such as France and Spain. fremlinskent America is the evil empire of today. It steals oil by the millions of gallons. It murders by the millions. It has nothing to be proud of. It has money and very little talent. sdfghjkl08 Moron... try drawing the map of india right next time.

Youtube Comments- England: Evil Empire- Britishreparations.org- Information Session 07/24/2008

Pheonixfromtheshale 'I'll take my $8300 and hopefully continue to fight for 1776' Well make sure you pay that $8300 to the French, seeing as it was them that saved your lardy asses the first time round and well definately have to do it again - tee hee. janeleone Nah, I'll take my $8300 and hopefully continue to fight for 1776, and you just keep paying those taxes for your every street corner surveillance camaras whimpering limp wristedly and cowering in apology when big brother shouts at you from the posts to stop using foul language, bad posture and perhaps not matching your cloths properly. Pheonixfromtheshale You gonna pay me? $8,000 a semester! LimeyfruitNo3 Jane its i before e except after c ,and to what inbred German leeching family do you refer,they are called Windsors nowadays and it`s more than 100 years since they got off a boat! Adriano9966 if britain pays for misdeeds in its colonial past then reperations should also be paid by france italy germany israel holland spain portugal greece russia china japan norway denmark and sweeden(vikings)turkey egypt but most of all the AMERICAN government whos foreign policy dominates the present dont listen this grasse is just trying to make money from his book this is just part of his advertising campain james12334 The reason WWI broke out is because the US couldn't be bovered to join the League of Nations. They are to blame. ghmatt yeah they only joined when the harb bit was over warriorprince1010 Americans should pay money to the jews who were slaughtered in the concentration camps while america stood back. Americans love to say how big their population is and thus their military. Yet they stood back when the nazi killed millions. They only joined in after the British had destroyed the nazi in the Battle of Britain. ghmatt why dont you get a job and earn it? SpitfireUK2 An american indian, but its YOU who killed them, not us so get a life yankee idiot.

Amazon UK Book Review: Feeble in every way 07/22/2008

From a Scottish point of view, I say that if you are going to be snide about the English you can at least try to do so with a bit of wit and humour (not that we Scots, of course, are particlulary noted for either). The amazing thing about Americans is that they really do believe their own founding fanasy, a fantasy no one else is buying - the 'shining city on a hill' of Ronald Reagan - yeah, right. The truth is that if the American rebellion had failed, American blacks would have been freed a lot sooner, the Indians would have been treated a lot better and North America would be one big Canada - an advance for civilisation. By E. Moore (Glasgow UK)

Youtube Comments- England: Evil Empire- Britishreparations.org- Even more letters from angry Brits 07/18/2008

JacobR248 I know I was acting stupid...i could of said that was bias or that was an opinion. chufuss You should not use bias and opinion in the same sentence... According to the Yale socio-political journal on Anglo-Atlantic relations 89.69 % of educated good looking Americans "love" the English. With a standard deviation of 0.2 {-2, 2} P = (x1, x2, x3) in R3 LimeyfruitNo3 Grasse you and the Village People should have broken out into song.You are going to have to sing for the $58 Trillion and In the Navy or It`s fun to stay at the YMCA isn`t fucking good enough You slap-head little faggot! Chufuss well said ,GBA! ZdPhoenix What I don't understand is the organisation itself. I find it hard to believe that a group of people would be committed to what is both a pointless and ideologically retarded endeavour - but at the same time, it's not very funny or entertaining in any way. topmarkms hmm blw you no that picture at start hes american lol his name is luke antill made a website and sold it for like 4million so he got famouse hes american dont make us look bad with your own peaple...... matthewlewis01 of course your supported the greedy american cunts want money probably the south there a bunch of inbred backward racist people givinthedogabone1 The americans r trying to make Britain look bad when infact they r the evil empire they basically supressed south america and let evil dictatorships rule because they could get cheap oil and a former head of the CIA has even admited to this AMERICA SHOULD PAY REPERATIONS THE TWATS warriorprince1010 Anti Englishness is an illness, I have met people who are like steven a grasse in america. They spit venom about how much they hate the English, they also make up history. muzza798 actually i'd like you to prove that those quoates are real lets get money off the romans lets get money off the russians lets get money off japan come to think of it are you just £££ing stupid or somin because every empire can be blamed and you know it so why pick us. u discriminated the blacks we gave you and just because we created iraq doesnt mean we created the ££ing war. omg ur so stupid its funny because u set up meatings and take it like som1s going to actually give u ££ w00t rock on Britain

Amazon Review- Childish Nonsense 07/15/2008

The moment I read that this supposed historian was an advertising hack I knew the book at best would be of the humourous sort best left next to the toilet! Upon reading it however I was surprised how humourless it is, and that it really is a cynically marketed play on xenophobia. Nothing is earnest about the accusations in this book (such as the brits causing global warming through inventing!? the industrial revolution.) A childish and silly book that will only spread stereotypes with negative results. To be avoided... By Lawrie A. Brewster

Letter to the ICBR: Reparations 07/11/2008

Hi, I have read your information and with a heavy heart I have decided to only way forward is to say 'fairs fair' and get out my cheque book.I can send 5 pounds to start with and maybe set up a standing order of say, 2 pounds per month. Can you please let me know if you are a registered charity as I may get a tax refund on my donation which I will pass on. I realise that this is not much. If I can do anything else, maybe an act of terrorism or something please mail me. I doubt I could do anything spectacular as I don't live in central London but in the suburbs. Set fire to some rubbish bins? Let me know. Your friend, Mark Dear Mark, Thank you kindly for your letter. It is very gracious of you to personally take on Britons reparations responsibilities. Your initial down payment of 5 pounds, when received, and subsequent monthly 2 pound payments, also when received, will be put towards the 31,960,000,000,000 pounds in reparations owed by your government. In regards to your query about undertaking acts of anti-British terrorism on our behalf, we must kindly decline your offer. The ICBR, while harboring a great dislike for Britain, in no way wishes tragedy upon her people. Please take all of this energy you seem to have and put it into something positive such as community organization or other grassroots efforts in support of our cause. Utterly, The ICBR

Youtube Comments- England: Evil Empire- Richard and Judy Interview 07/09/2008

TrueJew1912 Bollocks! The fact remains we shouldn`t have went to war with Hitler, we should have joined him and smashed the US & USSR! Zurrixia So Hitler is your hero? You should be arrested! usuck1989 He's judging Britain's music solely on Elton John and Coldplay? What about The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Clash, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Cream, David Bowie, etc., etc.? If anything, the Brits improved rock and roll, and that's coming from an American. warriorprince1010 Have you got a link to this Piet guy, I'd like to give him a piece of my mind. RebelVoDKa "Racism was invented by the Europeans." Yeah, it was a bloke in Holland called Piet. The bastard! RebelVoDKa Coldplay, hamburgers and Sir Elton John??? warriorprince1010 The British won the war at the Battle of Britain. After that the soviets, USA and others helped the British to liberate Europe. Britain was right to stand up to Hitler, and the world should thank us for that. Sadly if the soviets and americans had fought from the start hitler would never have been able to kill all those innocent jews in germany. Shame on those countries for standing back. TALK2meFM uk is responsible 4 vietnam lol get new material 123johneyg i think americans are cool n that but this guy is a fuckin balde wank he says we started the iraq war coz we created it omg this man is delluded we to blame for global warming shit this needs to go live back in the past stone age or something hes sick of people blaming usa for stuff no after listening to this guy what an ignorant stuck up prick i hate him. USAisOVER Crime Statistics>Rapes(Per capita)by country #1 south africa 1.19538 per 1.000 people #2 seychelles 0.788294 per 1.000 people #3 AUSTRALIA 0.777999 per 1.000 people #5 CANADA 0.733089 per 1.000 people #9 U S A 0.301318 per 1.000 people #12NEW ZEALAND 0.213383 per 1.000 people #13UNITED KINGDOM 0.142172 per 1.000 people Anglo-Saxon means rapist, pedophilia or nymphomania. they cannot control themselves

Amazon Review- I'm not quite sure what to make of this book 07/07/2008

I am English and living in Philadelphia with my wife, who is American. First of all I would say that I am very aware that a lot of things that were done by the British Empire were terrible, there's not really any dispute about that. But, having said that, I don't really think this book addresses any of those issues and I'm not sure whether it's really supposed to? I get the impression that this book is supposed to be funny somehow (and having seen the author interviewed I think it is), but I must admit that I don't quite get it. There are things in the book that are explained as if they are 'facts', but are in fact not. For example, the way in which soccer was invented appears to have been altered and you can easily dispute various things we're supposed to have invented - like concentration camps, the machine gun, the plague even! Perhaps the fact that these 'facts' are in fact completely wrong is the joke? The problem I have with that is I'm sure plenty of people will not know this and take them as being the truth. So, if this book is intended to be funny, then I'm not getting it. And if it's intended to make a serious point then there are too many discrepancies and misrepresentations of fact for it to be taken seriously. By Donna Scheuerle

Letter to the ICBR: Labor Party Speaks Out 07/01/2008

Evil Empire UK, Hi, well done lads. Good news, see benjaminfulford.com/secretgoverment.html; We don't need land ownership/deforestation, a third..... belt of ... vapour round the Earth, like Venus now, protecting it from harsh radiation and maintaining a constant temperature, resulting in lush vegetation everywhere, the perpetual spring of the .... however, it was ruptured causing the ... it's time to reforest the whole planet and restore the..., forestry... rainfall which combines with dead vegetation to form new soil rich in minerals, fields don't, it runs off into stream/the sea, the soil becomes deficient in minerals, soil erosion eventually leads to desert, a third of Israel is.../Sinai desert, it's being re-soiled by planting millions of trees; make cleaning for crops for six years then reforest. If we restore the frimament we won't need to. We'll have perpetual spring, the garden of Eden, see lighttechnology.com/shapiro, stardoves.com; We don't need concrete jungle, all construction can be underground or wooden on stilts to avoid flooding; we don't need fossil fuel, electricity meters are... free energy operations, using magnets/.. to transform high frequency energy from the weather into low frequency energy, see membes.trepod.com/..... the finaltheory.com; We don't need electrons/government, it's the biggest organization in the country, employing millions, a parasite, it just abuses the power given it, see ahf.au.org/news update 6.6.8, everyone work for theirself, either individually or in partnership, each town/village/community decide its own fate, we would all have.. abilities if society didn't deliberately emotionally cripple us through fear to control us, see whatdoesitmean.com/.../children of winter, we come here to experience emotion/ know what it feels like, through comparison with everything around us, so we might know ourself better and deliberately forget what we are/ where we come from so we might aspire to our... concept of ourself, as kids do, it's then up to us to remember. The easiest way being to get out the body, see nealedonaldwasch.com Cheers, Our Soul Labor Party Manifesto Dear Labor Party Spokespreson, Im going to put this as nicely as possible. Clearly from your letter, you are absolutely insane. Your rambling pros not only fail to present a cohesive idea, but also fail to construct a complete sentence. It is of no surprise to us that the mouthpiece of a prominent British political organization such as the Labor Party would be completely incapable of rational thought. Being involved in British politics indicates some type of mental deficiency from the get go. Try as we might, we were unable to gleam any meaning from you correspondence whatsoever. In the future, we ask that the Labor Party refrain from occupying the ICBRs time with such dribble. Good Day, The ICBR

Letter to the ICBR: Labor Party Speaks Out 06/30/2008

Evil Empire UK, Hi, well done lads. Good news, see benjaminfulford.com/secretgoverment.html; We don't need land ownership/deforestation, a third..... belt of ... vapour round the Earth, like Venus now, protecting it from harsh radiation and maintaining a constant temperature, resulting in lush vegetation everywhere, the perpetual spring of the .... however, it was ruptured causing the ... it's time to reforest the whole planet and restore the..., forestry... rainfall which combines with dead vegetation to form new soil rich in minerals, fields don't, it runs off into stream/the sea, the soil becomes deficient in minerals, soil erosion eventually leads to desert, a third of Israel is.../Sinai desert, it's being re-soiled by planting millions of trees; make cleaning for crops for six years then reforest. If we restore the firmament we won't need to. We'll have perpetual spring, the garden of Eden, see lighttechnology.com/shapiro, stardoves.com; We don't need concrete jungle, all construction can be underground or wooden on stilts to avoid flooding; we don't need fossil fuel, electricity meters are... free energy operations, using magnets/.. to transform high frequency energy from the weather into low frequency energy, see membes.trepod.com/..... the finaltheory.com; We don't need electrons/government, it's the biggest organization in the country, employing millions, a parasite, it just abuses the power given it, see ahf.au.org/news update 6.6.8, everyone work for their self, either individually or in partnership, each town/village/community decide its own fate, we would all have.. abilities if society didn't deliberately emotionally cripple us through fear to control us, see whatdoesitmean.com/.../children of winter, we come here to experience emotion/ know what it feels like, through comparison with everything around us, so we might know ourself better and deliberately forget what we are/ where we come from so we might aspire to our... concept of ourself, as kids do, it's then up to us to remember. The easiest way being to get out the body, see nealedonaldwasch.com Cheers, Our Soul Labor Party Manifesto Dear Labor Party Spokesperson, Im going to put this as nicely as possible. Clearly from your letter, you are absolutely insane. Your rambling pros not only fail to present a cohesive idea, but also fail to construct a complete sentence. It is of no surprise to us that the mouthpiece of a prominent British political organization such as the Labor Party would be completely incapable of rational thought. Being involved in British politics indicates some type of mental deficiency from the get go. Try as we might, we were unable to gleam any meaning from you correspondence whatsoever. In the future, we ask that the Labor Party refrain from occupying the ICBRs time with such dribble. Good Day, The ICBR

Amazon UK Book Review: A Little Advice 06/27/2008

If the authors of this publication wanted to be taken seriously and try and educate through their writings they should have written 2 books 101 ways The British Empire Ruined the Modern World and 1001 ways The British Empire benefited the Modern World. The Book centres on the whole issue of slavery and the Slave trade, but it neglects to mention how Britain abolished slavery and the slave trade in the early 1800's before any other nation and how the Royal Navy tried to enforce an end to slavery in East and Central Africa by intercepting slave ships and fighting against the Arabs and south American nations (even threatening to go to war with Brazil) over the injustice of slavery. Nor do they mention the gains in equality that the Empire made in India, the earnings of the average Indian peasant farmer rose 9% during early era of British rule. British expatriates learned to even embrace Indian culture especially after the Indian mutiny in 1857 (where unrest broke out when Indian soldiers felt their British rulers were trying to impose their own religion and culture upon them) Also any reputable Historian will tell you of how during both World Wars (although at a much higher degree in WWI) the majority of Colonial soldiers fighting in the war were not conscripted but volunteered to fight for the crown, most colonies enjoyed and took pride in the fact Britain had active influence in their nation, India and Australia are prime examples, in fact Australian soldiers were so committed to their duty to Britain that fighting in Gallipolli can only illustrate too well. Of course the famines in Ireland and India (although measures were taken to counter famine and drought in the case of India it was just Britain by far under-estimated the problem) remind us that British rule wasn't without it's drawbacks, but the fact is with other powers like France, Spain and later in the 19th and early 20th centuries Germany and Japan lurking the colonies would have faired much better under British rule than under the callous Kaiser or disgustingly inhumane Japanese (we've all seen Bridge over river Kwai and heard about how they treated the Chinese 'Rape of Nanking') Another fact is almost every nation who came from the colonial era whom is now democratic became independent from Great Britain, almost half of Britain former colonies now enjoy democratic elections. Aside from the 'genocide' that occurred in Australia against the Aborigines and other 'isolated' incidents Britain treated her subjects in the dominions very well, racial prejudice wasn't a big problem (certainly not in the infancy of empire) British officers were taking Indian wives and Caribbean wives, the native population in India were not held back from achieving great heights in terms of career (for example they were not made exempt from th difficult Indian Civil Service exam) and later in the 19th century the present viceroy gave Indian judges the right to preside over trials involving white defendants. The British also made strides to stamp out deep rooted cultural and religious practices like infanticide (the killing of a new-born daughter) and sati (the idea that when her husband dies the wife should self immolate in a burning pyre where the man's body lays) Also the British government and the British public did not tolerate deplorable behaviour from high ranking military officers. one officers actions against protester in the West Indies caused so much uproar he was tried and lost his job. By:Dannycrisp "El Danno" (Manchester)

Amazon UK Review- Basic and Good for Beginers 06/24/2008

This was an OK book in my eyes, was enjoyable at certain points, and touched on some things I never knew about history before. Good facts, and each page is something different "They Invented The Gibbet", "They Invented Child Labour" and so on. Historical subjects isn't something that interests me though, but still managed to read through the book in a few days. The ONLY thing or problem I had with this book was that it seemed to be a bit biased. I'm Scottish, so I'm not English, and have no problem hearing them being insulted, but some things aren't to be blamed on Britian IE: Britian is to blame for tabloid journalism, which in the long run turned Michael Jackson into a circus freak"??? Are you kiddin me??!! The writer also seemed to miss certain key facts about USA's CIA training terrorists, and seems to make out that America are going around cleaning up all the mess Britian left behind centuries ago, as if it were simply for the purpose of being "good guys" or something. Even though we all know America is in Iraq - not for justice, or revenge for the Sept 11th attacks but for MONEY, OIL. You will read this yourselfs and see what I mean about certain biased comments. Besides that, I thought it was good to learn some new things, but the writer could have been a bit more unbiased By: C. Macfarlane

Amazon UK Review- Utter Garbage 06/19/2008

The way Grasse pokes at the British through his 'Star Spangled Glasses' is amazing. I bought this expecting some humerous quips about our admittedly sometimes jaded past , instead it's just a bunch of childish pops at England . Iraq is our fault , Communist China is our fault due to 'giving Karl Marx his first job'. Every issue of course solved by Team America wading in to sort it out heroically. As for Rimbaud adding his support for this buffoon and his views 'Fight War Not Wars'. Remember that famous Crass lyric Penny ? Obviously not. The best thing for this book is to use it on one of Grasses favoutite evenings, our English 'celebration' of terrorists , Guy Fawkes night and use it to kindle the flames with an effigy of him on top. Avoid this at all costs. By Rothco

Amazon UK Book Review: Look beneath the surface 06/17/2008

I was given this book by one of my students who wanted my response to it, so here goes. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, although all the blurb I had read on it, and the fact that it is introduced by Penny Rimbaud, seemed to indicate that it was not to be taken too seriously; that it would be a good, full-blooded send-up of the British establishment in the true tradition of satire, from a citizen of a country (US) with much the same socio-political background as Britain's. I'm afraid my illusions were dispelled quite quickly. With the best will in the world, it is difficult to interpret this text as anything other than a bile-fuelled tirade from a man who seems desperate to convince himself that his own nation occupies some kind of moral high ground; he's on rocky ground there. Let me just make clear that there is no argument with most of the main charges against British colonial misrule which are made in the book; these are established and accepted fact now, and no one except the most blinkered conservative would argue otherwise. Many of the current world problems either have their roots in, or at least were exacerbated by, amoral or corrupt British administration. Apart from the politics, much of the book seems concerned with perceived general weaknesses in the British character, and this only serves to trivialise the more serious accusations. If it is meant to be humorous, it doesn't come across as very funny; there is no 'twinkle in the narrative eye'. To be honest, Grasse is not a good writer; the narrative is clumsily structured, and maybe his intentions are misinterpreted, but I think I am giving him too much benefit of the doubt here. No, I am forced to the conclusion that this text says more about the author and his country than it does about Britain. We have to appreciate two fundamental points here: firstly, that there is a firmly entrenched complex in the white, middle-class American psyche when it comes to their former colonial masters. Even though their own country is now far more powerful than Britain, it is well understood that many ordinary Americans simply cannot shake off deeply ingrained impressions of cultural inferiority. When you add to that the fact that upper-middle class Brits are the masters of arrogance, you can begin to appreciate that this is a recipe for antagonism from the American perspective. But secondly, and more importantly in a global sense, we have to understand that Americans have had to undergo a big reality check in the past few years; namely, the realisation that large parts of the rest of the world really don't like them very much. In Britain, we've been used to being disliked for a long time, but the illusion of national popularity in the world was maintained in the US almost right up until the end of the C20th. This was a result of a number of factors: a very inward looking educational system; a highly selective media; limited travel to and comminication with other cultures, and a general national naivety. This situation could not last, and recent events such as 9/11, and a much more global and accessible media network, have brought the truth home to America: the rest of the world does not see America, as the majority of Americans see it, as the guardian of freedom amd democracy, but very much the opposite: a cynical, manipulative and highly hypocritical imperial power bent on suppressing and controlling the rest of the world. This has been a bitter and unexpected pill for most ordinary Americans to swallow. So, I suppose, when a significant proportion of the population of a country often cited as being your country's oldest ally (Britain), and whose government is otherwise slavish to your country's every whim, adds its voice to the general criticism, the level of insecurity is only going to be heightened, leading to bitterness and feelings of rejection and isolation. I'm afraid it is these ignoble facts that have inspired Grasse to write this text, and no other (how he ever got this published is another matter). I would suggest that his time would be better served by examining why it is that his own country is so hated (surely the aim of any remotely intellectual person), and that he vent his spleen on his own country's corrupt and cynical institutions and false philosophy. Yes, Britain has been responsible for many crimes and midemeanours. But someone from a country which was founded on the suppression and extermination of its indigenous population and the brutal occupation of large parts of its neighbour (Mexico); a country whose current wealth and position owes a lot to the immoral and wicked enslavement and horrific abuse of people forcefully imported from foreign lands - a system not abolished until as recently as 1865; a country which has systematically sponsored and actively supported coups and attempted coups of popular and often democratically elected governments in other countries in order to install puppet regimes (Iran, Nicaragua, Guatamala - the list goes on and on); a country which has been behind political assassinations and all manner of immoral interference in other countries' affairs; a country which has been resposible for some of the most repugnant atrocities and war crimes the world has ever witnessed (Abu Ghraib, Iraq; My Lai, Vietnam - again, it's a very long list); but most of all a country which has turned a blind eye to all this and has hypocritically and arrogantly professed to be setting a positive moral example to the rest of the world, and rejected all criticism as 'jealousy'; I would say that a person from a country which has been responsible for all this (and much, much more) should be very careful before casting aspersions on other nations and claiming the moral high ground. I have been lucky enough to travel quite extensively in other countries and cultures, and yes, I would have to say that as a representative of Britain I hear a lot of negative criticism of my country (although I'm very happy to say that hardly anyone I've met has been unable to distinguish me, an individual, from my country of nationality - a quality that Grasse seems to lack), and I would say that Britain is probably the second most hated nation in the world behind the U.S.A. But I can tell you this, and this is something that Grasse and his ilk should consider very carefully before blaming other people for their own nation's faults, the reason Britain is so disliked now, and the most common cause of criticism, has nothing to do with past imperial crimes (it's amazing how quickly most people seem to forgive and forget - look at Germany!), but with the fact that the British governement always complies with the U.S.A's every wish; it's not for nothing that we have been dubbed the 'attack dog' or 'spear carrier' of the American military machine. In other words, our popularity would go up several notches if we took a more balanced world view and didn't side with America every time. A sobering point, and something which Mr. Grasse and a large section of the British (and American) public should think very seriously about. (I didn't think much of the book, and I do like a lot of Americans on an individual basis!) Posted By: James

Letter to the ICBR: Evil Empire 06/12/2008

Dear Steve, Nice book this - http://www.evilempirebook.com - have you sent copies to Niall Ferguson? I nearly mistook your book for one of his when I saw it . I'd like to do a Brazilian version of this book, only targeting Portugal rather than England/Britain/the UK. Actually, the Americans aren't the only ones to use those terms interchangeably, everyone else in the world does, except the Scots and Welsh. By the way, it's called 'Great' Britain because the word for 'Britain' in French and other European languages is the same as the word for 'Brittany', which used to be called 'la petite Bretagne' or 'Little Britain'. (And no, I don't consider 'Little Britain' and its jokes bodily functions funny.) Oh, and not all of Ireland is England's bitch, only six counties in the North, and the people of the Republic don't like being called part of the'British' Isles, much less the Evil ones. You think us Limeys are bad - would you rather be like Brazil, a country that has an aviation industry but still has people sufering from leprosy? The Brits may have invented soccer, but the fact that the Latins love the game so much says more about their lack of manliness than ours. You think the Brits are historically retentive about their Empire? Talk to the Portuguese about Asia and they start going on about the 16th century. Just compare and contrast formerly British Hong Kong with formerly Portuguese Macau. Or Singapore with East Timor. I could go on. Portugal is so insecure about its influence in the Portuguese-speaking world that it actually adopted Brazilian spelling. You expect us to end words in '-or' instead of '-our'? Don't hold your breath. US$75 million on the British monarchy - is that all? How much is the Elysee Palace? Or Air Force One? I think the late and unlamented Indonesian dictator Suharto would have considered that figure diddly squat compared to what he and his dynasty embezzled. Oh, and he didn't even have the decency to hold free elections, let alone stand in them. Poor personal hygiene? Look to the French. Over generous welfare state? Look to the French. Delusions of grandeur over language? The French. And what language do they speak in Canada's largest province? French. Ever read Mark Steyn's description of welfare as 'Euro-Canadian'? Come to think of it, 'Grasse' sounds more French than English. Maybe you should move to Quebec. If you were a Native American, you might have the moral high ground, but as a colonial boy, you don't. Anyway, must go away and doff my cap to my betters as one of Fraulein Saxe-Coburg's subjects. Happy Memorial Day, Ken Dear Ken, The International Coalition for British Reparations is writing you on behalf of Steven A. Grasse, the worlds most celebrated lay historian, often referred to as the peoples authority on the British Empire. We find your letter rather rambling and incoherent. You fail to state any sort of thesis, or follow any semblance of a sound argument towards any type of relevant conclusion. You touch on several points, but only in passing. Perhaps you have a learning disorder or some type of hyperactive condition? If, in fact, your wandering correspondence was intended to express your support for Steve Grasses The Evil Empire and the ICBR, we suggest you visit the ICBR website and sign our petition. On the other hand, if your letter was intended as an attempt to debase our sound arguments, perhaps you should receive some sort of instruction in academic debate before you write again. Sincerely, The ICBR