Nigel Biggar – Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning

The Sunday Times bestselling Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning tests the ‘decolonising’ movement’s indictment of the West by examining the record of the British Empire. It addresses the crucial questions, including those of slavery, genocide and undemocratic colonial government, making it clear that the British Empire involved elements of injustice, sometimes appalling, and on occasion was culpably incompetent and presided over moments of dreadful tragedy.  

Nevertheless, from the early 1800s the Empire was committed to abolishing the slave trade, and ended endemic inter-tribal warfare, opened local economies to the opportunities of global trade, and established the rule of law and liberal institutions such as a free press.  

As encyclopaedic in historical breadth as it is penetrating in analytical depth, Colonialism offers a moral inquest into the colonial past, forensically contesting damaging falsehoods and thereby helping to rejuvenate faith in the West’s future. 

Nigel Biggar is Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at  the University of Oxford. Described as “one of the leading living Western ethicists” (New Statesman), Biggar has written widely for the press, including the Times,  the Telegraph and the FT. He was appointed Commander of the British Empire for services to higher education in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. 

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