Running the Show: The Extraordinary Stories of the Men who Governed the British Empire - Softcover

Williams, Stephanie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141041218 ISBN 13: 9780141041216

Publisher: Penguin, 2012

Synopsis

Stephanie Williams's Running the Show is a brilliant look at the men and women of Empire.

'May God forgive us for our sorry deeds and for our glorious intentions'

Who were the men governing the Empire in the nineteenth century?
How were they chosen and controlled? Were they sane or mad?
And why did they do it?

From Fiji to the Falkland Islands, from Malaysia to Australia and South Africa, from Lagos to Ottawa, ordinary British men and women, with no training, were dispatched to strange places, among strange people and faced unimaginable conditions. Some started wars. Others fought disease, injustice and slavery. Many died or went mad. Running the Show, drawing on vast unpublished sources, reveals the day-today lives, griefs and triumphs of governors at the height of the British Empire as they struggled to make sense of their charges and, frequently, themselves.

'An amusing and lively book, stuffed full of anecdotes and interesting titbits' Amanda Foreman, New Statesman

Stephanie Williams was born in Canada, the daughter of an army officer. Her mother was born in China, to an Englishman and a young Russian refugee who had escaped the brutality of the Bolshevik revolution. Stephanie grew up moving constantly across Canada, Europe and the United States, before taking a degree in history at Wellesley College, Massachusetts and becoming a London-based journalist. When perestroika came to Russia it was possible to begin to investigate the truth of her Russian grandmother's tumultuous past. Researching and writing Olga's Story took ten years.

About this title

Review:

Consistently surprising, frequently stirring and often very funny... Williams is never dull. She has a fluent, engaging style and a finely tuned ear for an anecdote. She also pays proper attention to her subjects' romantic entanglements - a combination of hot climates, plentiful supplies of booze and boredom sounding the death knell for numerous colonial marriages...a delight (Daily Mail)

The range and richness of Running the Show defies reviewers' analysis. It is a wonderful performance whose prime effect is to demonstrate the vastness of the British imperial enterprise in all its blacks, whites and exceptions (Jan Morris The Times)

An amusing and lively book, stuffed full of anecdotes and interesting titbits (Amanda Foreman New Statesman)

Williams' research is exhaustive; her descriptions of the colonial life splendidly evocative. What emerges is a valuable picture of what empire-building was like (David Evans The Financial Times)

Her portraits of these men sparkle (Christopher Sylvester The Daily Express)

Admirably readable...gives a vivid picture of what it was like, in very varying circumstances and at different levels of responsibility, to be an instrument of that imperial endeavour in the heyday of Empire (David Goodall The Tablet)

About the Author:

Stephanie Williams was born in Canada, the daughter of an army officer. Her mother was born in China, to an Englishman and a young Russian refugee who had escaped the brutality of the Bolshevik revolution. Stephanie grew up moving constantly across Canada, Europe and the United States, before taking a degree in history at Wellesley College, Massachusetts and becoming a London-based journalist. When perestroika came to Russia it was possible to begin to investigate the truth of her Russian grandmother's tumultuous past. Researching and writing Olga's Story took ten years.

Stephanie's latest book, Running the Show: Governors of the British Empire, was inspired by the discovery of an 1879 questionnaire that revealed the extraordinary variety of conditions under which British governors and their families were living around the world. Drawing on a vast range of unpublished letters, diaries and official dispatches, the book presents a kaleidoscope of people, places and events. Her website is www.stephanie-williams.com

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0141041218
• ISBN 13: 9780141041216
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 544