The Empire of Progress

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Daniel Stephen

   Pages 1-22

3. “Developing the Family Estate”

   • Daniel Stephen

   Pages 23-52

4. Building the Exhibition in India and British West Africa

   • Daniel Stephen

   Pages 53-80

5. “Progress” in the Tropics

   • Daniel Stephen

   Pages 81-108

6. Imperialism for the People

   • Daniel Stephen

   Pages 109-136

7. Conclusion

   • Daniel Stephen

   Pages 137-141

8. Back Matter

   Pages 143-194

   PDF

This much-needed study of the British Empire Exhibition reveals durable, persistent connections between empire and domestic society in Britain during the interwar years. It demonstrates that the Exhibition was a marker of how by 1924, imperial relations were increasingly likely to be shaped by forces located on the colonial periphery.

• Africa
• African
• Britain
• British Empire
• building
• empire
• exhibition
• Great Britain
• imperialism
• India
• Indian
• society

'The largest and most ambitious in the tradition of imperial expositions, the 1924 Empire Exhibition brought the empire 'home' to the outskirts of north London, heralding a new era of imperial unity and development while adhering to the principle of colonial self-sufficiency and reproducing racist caricatures. In the first book-length account of the exhibition at Wembley, its context, and its contradictions, Stephens provides new insight into the British Empire during the interwar years, when it reached a tenuous apex and inspired mounting opposition both in Britain and in the colonies.' - Marc Matera, Assistant Professor, History Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

'This is an insightful, well-written study of the often overlooked Wembley Empire Exhibition of 1924-25 that treats with great sensitivity the fair's non-European participants. That The Empire of Progress does so within the context of twentieth-century British history and the history of Britain's empire is all the more impressive.' - Jeffrey Auerbach, Professor of History, California State University Northridge, USA

'The Empire of Progress is a welcome addition to the literature on the inter-war empire. It provides a comprehensive and illuminating study of the contribution the 1924-5 Empire Exhibition made to promoting an 'empire consciousness' and to the evolution of emergent discourses of colonial development in the wider context of new post-war challenges to the British empire, including the growth of anti-colonial resistance.' - Barbara Bush, Emeritus Professor of History, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Daniel Stephen is Lecturer in History at University of Colorado Boulder, USA. His work has appeared in Twentieth Century British History and The Journal of British Studies.

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