Coming soon,
Malta. Simon C. Smith. December, 2006. Based on previously unpublished Colonial Office Records, this volume provides a fascinating insight into Malta’s journey to independence from direct British rule. Despite its small size and economic vulnerability, Malta played a central role in British policy-making at the end of empire, something which the existing literature on British decolonisation has not always adequately reflected. Malta’s unique position as the only dependency seriously to be considered for integration into the United Kingdom of itself merits scholarly attention. Starting with the restoration of responsible government in the aftermath of the Second World War, the volume examines the malfunctioning of post-war ‘dyarchy’ for which integration was intended to provide a cure and covers the period of ‘informal empire’ beyond formal constitutional separation in 1964. The difficulty of reconciling Malta’s desire for political independence with the reality of continuing financial dependence on Britain is a recurrent theme in the period covered by the volume. 612 pp. ISBN: 0112905900 / 9780112905905. $280.00
Fiji. British documents on the end of Empire Vol. 10 Series B. Brij V. Lal (editor), S.R. Ashton (general editor), A.N. Porter (project chairman). 2006. The main purpose of the British Documents on the End of Empire Project (BDEEP) is to publish documents from British official archives on the ending of colonial and associated rule and on the context in which this took place. The Republic of the Fiji Islands, is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu. The country occupies an archipelago of about 322 islands, of which 106 are permanently inhabited; in addition, there are some 522 islets. The islands came under British control as a colony in 1874. It was granted independence in 1970. This publication sets out the documentary progress to independence. The book, divided into seven chapters, contains documents covering the political and economic background to Fiji's constitutional evolution; the aspirations and national interests of Fijians; the London constitutional conference and its aftermath, July 1965 - September 1967; the Alliance government, January 1968 - September 1969 and finally documents leading towards independence and the achievement of independence. The book is based overwhelmingly on hitherto unpublished Colonial Office records which documents Fiji's progress over a ten-year period leading to indpendence in 1970. 547 pp. ISBN 0112905897. $240.00
Central Africa. Parts 1 & 2. Philip Murphy. 11 Nov 2005.
November
11 2005 marks the 40th anniversary of Southern Rhodesia's unilateral
declaration of independence, which led to a 15-year struggle for freedom
before Southern Rhodesia became independent as Zimbabwe in 1980. This publication provides a detailed examination of British policy
towards the three Central African territories Northern Rhodesia (Zambia),
Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi) during the years
1945-1965. At its heart is an account of one of the most controversial episodes in
the twentieth century British colonial policy: the rise and fall of the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (the Central African Federation). Part I considers why the British Government implemented the scheme in
1953 and examines the tensions and divisions which dogged the Federation in
its early years. Part 11 seeks to explain why the Federation was dismantled after only ten
years. It examines the activities of political leaders who challenged
British policy and traces the events that led to Nyasaland and Northern
Rhodesia achieving their independence in 1964, and considers why the British
Government failed to avert Southern Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of
independence (UDI) on 11 November 1965. A wide variety of other political, social and economic issues are also
examined, from land ownership and labour relations to the impact of global
politics and developments in neighbouring African States. Key features: The 442 documents included in this publication, some of which have
only recently been declassified, offer an unprecedented insight into the
decolonisation of British Central Africa. They also shed light on subjects that have hitherto been shrouded in
secrecy, including British planning for military intervention in the
Federation and Southern Rhodesia, and the role of the intelligence
community. ISBN: 0112905889. $500.00
British Documents on the End of Empire: Malaysia. Author: A J Stockwell, Royal Holloway, University of
London.
Published: Dec 2004.
The
achievement of Malayan independence in 1957 did not bring to an end the
British Empire in S E Asia. Britain's long-term objective was the
amalgamation of Malaya with Singapore and its Borneo territories, and this
pursuit of territorial consolidation is the central theme of this collection
of documents. The creation of Malaysia in 1963 may appear to be the logical
completion of British decolonisation in the region. However, the documentary
record reveals that the road to Malaysia was full of pitfalls. British
policy-making lacked coherence, with contradictory objectives championed in
different quarters of government. Britain's freedom of action was reduced,
not only by its declining power, but also by local resistance and the
independent aspirations of S E Asian leadersMoreover, as subversives in
Singapore, rebels in Brunei and President Sukarno of Indonesia mounted
attacks on the scheme, the inauguration of Malaysia turned out to be a
close-run thing.
Key features:
840 pp. ISBN 0112905811. $380.00
British Documents on the End of Empire: East of Suez and the Commonwealth 1964-1971. 3 Volume set. Author: S R Ashton, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, & Wm Roger Louis, University of Texas. Published: Dec 2004. This is the final general volume in this well-established series. It covers the period from the election of a Labour government in 1964 to the symbolic recall of British troops East of Suez in 1971.
Key features:
ISBN 0112905854. $780.00 (separate volumes $380.00 each)
Series A: general volumes containing information on relating successive British governments to the empire as a whole - price change due to exchange rate, please inquire. the prices listed below may not be current!
Volume 1: Imperial Policy and Colonial Practice 1925-1945.
Edited by S.R. Ashton & S.E. Stockwell.
1996.
• Part 1 Metropolitan
Reorganization, Defense and International Relations, Political Change and Constitutional
Reform.
Hardback, cviii + 403 pp.
ISBN 0112905447 $126.00
• Part 2 Economic Policy, Social Policies and
Colonial Research.
Hardcover,
xxii + 403 pp.
ISBN 011290551X $126.00
Volume 2: The Labour Government and the End of Empire 1945-1951.
Edited by Ronald
Hyam. 1992.
• Part 1 High Policy and Administration.
Paperback, lxxxiv + 372 pp.
ISBN 0112905218
$108.00
• Part 2 Economics and International Relations.
Paperback, xxii
+ 498 pp.
ISBN 0112905226 $108.00
• Part 3 Strategy, Politics and
Constitutional Change.
Paperback, xxii + 419 pp.
ISBN 0112905234 $108.00
• Part 4 Race Relations and the Commonwealth.
Paperback, xviii
+ 399 pp.
ISBN 0112905242
$108.00
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Volume 3: The Conservative
Government and the End of Empire
1951-1957.
Edited by David Goldsworthy, S.R. Ashton & D.A. Low.
1994.
• Part 1 International
Relations.
Hardcover, lxxix + 422 pp.
ISBN 0112905358 $108.00
• Part 2 Politics and Administration.
Hardcover, xxviii + 410 pp.
ISBN 0112905366 $108.00
• Part 3 Economic and Social Policies.
Hardcover, xxviii + 422 pp.
ISBN 0112905374 $108.00
Volume 4: The Conservative Government and The End of Empire 1957-1964.
Edited by
Ronald Hyam, Wm. Louis & S.R. Ashton. 2000.
Between 1957 and 1964 the Conservative governments of Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home presided over a short but key period in twentieth-century British history. The British Empire was transformed into the modern, multi-racial Commonwealth that is
recognized today. Macmillan captured the spirit of the times in his address to the South African parliament in February 1960 when he referred to a ‘wind of change’ sweeping across the African continent. No fewer than eighteen territories (all but eight of them African) became independent and joined the Commonwealth during these years, and Zambia was only days away from independence when Home left office in October 1964. This volume represents the first in-depth treatment of end of empire during its climactic phase, and from it will emerge a closer understanding of the dynamics involved in
decolonization. Published in two substantial parts, it contains 583 official documents. Every aspect and area of colonial disengagement are covered, together with the main strategic questions of continuing
defense commitments in Aden, the Indian Ocean and Singapore. Also dealt with are the other main issues of the period: the containment of communism, relations with the USA and the United Nations, the management of sterling, the significant development of aid policies, the first application to the European Economic Community, immigration into Britain, and the departure of South Africa from the Commonwealth. Southern Rhodesia emerges as the Achilles heel of British colonial policy and the unilateral declaration of independence is plainly foreshadowed.
• Part 1 High Policy, Political and Constitutional Change.
Hardback, cix
+ 825 pp.
ISBN 0112905781 $270.00
• Part 2 Economics, International Relations, and the Commonwealth.
Hardback, xxxvii + 811 pp.
ISBN 011290579X $270.00
Series B: country volumes and territorial studies of how, from a British perspective, former colonies achieved their independence, and countries within an informal empire regained their autonomy
Volume 1: Ghana.
Edited by Richard Rathbone.
1992.
• Part 1 1941-1952.
Hardcover, lxxxviii + 421 pp.
ISBN 0112905250 $108.00
• Part 2 1952-1957.
Hardcover, xxx + 443 pp.
ISBN 0112905269 $108.00
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Volume 2: Sri Lanka.
Edited by
K.M. DeSilva & S.R. Ashton. 1997.
Renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, Ceylon was
the first of Britain's crown colonies in Asia and Africa to become
independent. Though it was regarded as a model colony, conflict between the
Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority posed a major obstacle to
self-governance. Based on hitherto unpublished material from official
British archives, this two-part volume illustrates the complexities in the
political and constitutional negotiations which culminated in Ceylon's
independence in February 1948. Part I (1939-1945) reveals how Ceylon
insisted that its contribution to the war effort be considered as pledge for
dominion status, and Part II records developments up to independence and the
Colonial Office's final agreement.
• Part 1 The Second World War and the Soulbury Commission 1939-1945.
Hardcover, cvi + 368 pp.
ISBN 0112905587 $144.00
• Part 2 Towards
Independence 1945-1948.
Paperback, xxxvii + 396 pp.
ISBN 0112905595 $144.00
Volume 3: Malaya.
Edited by A.J. Stockwell & S.R. Ashton. 1995.
Drawing on source material
from official British archives held at the Public Record Office, this
three-part volume documents the course of Anglo-Malayan relations from the
fall of Singapore in February 1942 to the achievement of Malayan
independence in August 1957.
•
Part 1 The Malayan Union Experiment
1942-1948.
Part one covers the period to February 1948 and
begins with a series of documents on wartime planning in Whitehall following the loss of
Malaya to Japan. Between 1942 and 1945 a radical shift occurred in British policy and the
secret plans for a Malayan Union involved the establishment of direct British rule and a
common citizenship scheme for Malays and non-Malays. But a Malayan Union and the treaties
concluded with the Malay rulers provoked unprecedented Malay opposition. The British were
forced into retreat and the Malayan Union was replaced by the Federation of Malaya.
Hardcover, xciv +
392 pp.
ISBN 0112905404 $108.00
•
Part 2 The Communist Insurrection 1948-1953.
Part two deals with the worst five
years of the emergency from its origins and declaration in June 1948, to the assassination
of Sir Henry Gurney, the high commissioner, in October 1951, and finally to the decision
at the end of August 1953 to designate part of Malacca a 'white area'. The documents show
how the setbacks experienced in the first years of countering insurgency heightened
tensions between Malays and Chinese, between military, police and administrative
authorities on the spot, and between different department in Whitehall. They also disclose
for the first time the results of the visit to Malaya by Oliver Lyttelton, the colonial
secretary, which led to the appointment of General Templar as the new high commissioner in
February 1952. Hardcover, xxx + 486 pp.,
ISBN 0112905412 $108.00
•
Part 3 The Alliance Route to
Independence 1953-1957.
Part three, covering the
period between September 1953 and August 1957, reveals how, as the MCP fell back in the
shooting-war, the pace of political change increased with the authorities making
preparations for federal elections, political parties competing for support and the
communists attempting to re-enter legitimate politics. The documents throw new light on
relations between the Alliance (of UMNO, MCA and MIC), the Malay rulers and the British,
and they show how Tunku Abdul Rahman gained the political initiative and forced the pace
of constitutional advance. Hardcover, xxxii + 458 pp.
ISBN 0112905420 $108.00
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Volume 4: Egypt and the
Defence of the Middle East.
Edited by John Kent
& S.R. Ashton. 1998.
• Part 1 1945-1949.
Hardcover, cx
+ 389 pp.
ISBN 0112905609 $144.00
• Part 2 1949-1953.
Hardcover, xxxii + 594 pp.
ISBN 0112905617 $144.00
• Part 3 1953-1956.
Hardcover, xxxvi + 590 pp.
ISBN 0112905625 $144.00
Volume 5: Sudan.
Edited by Douglas H. Johnson &
S.R. Ashton. 1998.
• Part 1 1942-1950.
Hardcover, cvi + 438 pp.
ISBN 0112905633 $171.00
• Part 2 1951-1956.
Hardcover, xliii + 540 pp.
ISBN 0112905641 $171.00
Volume 6: The West Indies.
Edited by S.R. Ashton
& David Killingray. 1999.
Including documents from March 1948 to December 1966,
the central
theme of this volume is the short-lived West Indies Federation, which was created in 1948
and collapsed in 1962. From the end of WWII, federation was the recognized goal of British
policy-makers. Independence for any of the islands was not even contemplated until as late
as 1959, and only then in the hope that it might never happen. Jamaica and Trinidad were
the key federal players and aspects of their domestic politics and their achievements of
separate independence are recorded. There is also coverage of federal moves in the East
Caribbean (1962-1966), and the two mainland territories- British Guiana (Guyana), and
British Honduras (Belize)- with considerably more documentation on the successive crises
that so dominated the politics of the former. Other aspects of the end of empire in the
Caribbean have not been neglected. Defense issues are covered in terms both of local
defense requirements and the controversy over the American naval base at Chaguaramas in
Trinidad. West Indian immigration to the UK is treated in some detail, while the place of
the Caribbean in UK foreign policy, in the context especially of Anglo-American relations,
is also considered. Above all there is considerable coverage of these economic and
financial issues that so dominated the contemporary debates about development programs in
the Caribbean. Included here are the implications for the West Indies of Britain's
negotiations with the EEC and the place of the Caribbean in the aid programs of Canada and
USA. Drawn from the official UK records and revealing the Caribbean to be an area of low
British priority from which successive British governments were anxious to withdraw as
speedily as possible, the 256 documents in this volume represent the first detailed
treatment at end of empire in the British West Indies. Hardcover, civ + 750
pp.
ISBN
0112905773 $288.00
BACK TO TOP
Volume 7: Nigeria.
Edited by Martin Lynn
& S.R. Ashton. 2001.
• Part 1 Managing the Political Reform 1943-1953.
Hardcover, cix + 643 pp.
ISBN 0112905978 $270.00
• Part
2 Moving to Independence 1953-1960.
Hardcover, li + 801pp.
ISBN 0112905986 $270.00
Series C: archival guides to official sources
Volume 1:
Records of the Colonial and Dominions Offices.
Edited by Anne
Thurston & S.R. Ashton. 1995.
A
revised & expanded version of Public Record Office handbook No. 3: Records of the
Colonial & Dominions Offices by R.B. Pugh. Hardcover, xv + 479 pp.
ISBN 0114402469 not available
Volume 2: Public
Office Handbook No. 3.
Edited by Anne
Thurston & S.R. Ashton. 1998.
A
revised & expanded version of Public Record Office Handbook No. 3: Records of the
Colonial and Dominions Office by R.B. Pugh. Hardcover, xi + 565
pp.
ISBN 0114402477 $144.00
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