The Evil Empire: 101 Ways That England Ruined the World
They invented slums. They invented child labor. They put Saddam Hussein in power. They burned Joan of Arc at the stake, and they enslaved the globe to get their tea fix. We're talking about England, of course, and the terrible evils they've set loose on the world. In The Evil Empire, American author Steven Grasse documents the 101 worst atrocities of Mother England everything from foxhunting to the invention of the concentration camp. With an irreverent mix of historical facts, smart commentary, and red-blooded American arrogance, Grasse offers a devastating critique of the country that gave us the machine gun, factory labor, and the metric system. Publishing just in time for the Queen's birthday (April 21), The Evil Empire is essential reading for true-blue Americans and others oppressed by the English throughout history.
Excerpts from the Book
They Hooked the Chinese on Opium
"Such was the fate of the estimated fourteen million Chinese who were hooked on opium by 1900. Their lost livelihoods and broken homes amounted to little more than so many hash marks on John Bull's ledger. Dauguong, the Chinese emperor, was so fed up with the Brits' drug-dealing ways that in 1839 he expelled the British opium traders from his country. They soon returned with gunboats, willing to use violence to keep the Chinese hooked. After enduring such a trauma at the hands of the Evil Empire, is it any wonder China eventually succumbed to the siren song of Communism?" View This Spread
The Invented the Machine Gun
"Invented and named for Sir Hiram Maxim, the Maxim gun could fire five hundred rounds a minute, giving teams of five men the firepower of one hundred muskets. Known as the Devil's Paintbrush for its ability to sweep the field clean with one pivot of its howling muzzle, the Maxim gun marked a turning point in the history of modern warfare. No longer was war a gentleman's game, with staged battles guided by the laws of chivalry. Now it was a mad rush to see who could pile the enemy bodies up higher and faster." View This Spread
They Took the Soul Out of Rock&Roll
"During the Raj, the East India Company harvested India's native cotton and shipped it back to factories in Liverpool and Birmingham. There it was woven into cheap, mass-produced fabric and sold back to the Indians. The Raj ended in 1947, but an even more insidious form of mercantilism soon took its place, where British musicians would harvest classic forms of music perfected by the American working class, wring out album after album of cheap, imitative fluff, and market the watered-down result back to hapless American audiences. This tradition of befouling American airwaves begun by Sergeant Pepper's march up the charts continues today with Franz Ferdinand, Coldplay, the Arctic Monkeys, and other pieces of audio tripe." View This Spread
They Think Kings and Queens Are Better Than the Rest of Us
"And who exactly does the Prime Minister minister to? The British people? Hate to break it to you pal, but it's the Queen. To this day, the British political universe revolves around an old lady who didn't do a lick of work to get there. Now, the progressive lad down at the pub will tell you that the royal family is kept around for purely ceremonial reasons, sort of like the giant Mickey Mouse balloon that floats down Fifth Avenue in New York every Thanksgiving and spends the rest of the year mothballed in a warehouse. If that were the case, would British taxpayers willingly pay £37 million each year for her royal retinue, wardrobe, and upkeep?" View This Spread
