New Book: Blood and Bronze: the British Empire & the Sack of Benin is coming soon..!

I am delighted to say that my new book, Blood and Bronze: the British Empire & the Sack of Benin will be published by Hurst Publishers in November. Based almost entirely on new archive research, it will tell the real story behind the British invasion and destruction of the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, explaining how the famous Benin Bronzes came to be stolen from their homeland.

This is what Hurst Publishers have to say about it:

“The famous Benin Bronzes are among the most prized possessions of the British Museum. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once the most powerful in West Africa and now part of Nigeria. But despite their renown, little has been written about the brutal act of imperial violence through which the Bronzes were plundered. This incisive new history tells that neglected story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin.

Diving into the archives, Blood and Bronze sets the assault on Benin in its late Victorian context. As Britain faced new commercial and strategic pressures on its power elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded its rule in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the conquest and destruction of Benin. By laying bare the Empire’s true motives and its violent means, Paddy Docherty demolishes any moral claim for Britain retaining the Bronzes, and makes a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria.”