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• More titles by Robert Bickers

Synopsis

Shanghai in the wake of the First World War was one of the world’s most dynamic, brutal and exciting cities – a swarming metropolis of nightclubs, opium-dens, gambling, sex and murder. Threatened from within by gangsters, communists and nationalists, and from without by Chinese warlords and the Japanese military, the hold of the British dominated administration seemed increasing fragile.

Robert Bickers’s account of this corrupt and mesmerizing city is illuminated by the rediscovered letters and photo-albums of a forgotten Englishman – a tough, resourceful policeman who stepped into the maelstrom of post-war Shanghai. Told through the moving story of one man’s life and death while working for a governing class he could never belong to, Empire Made Me provides an intriguing glimpse into how the British Empire really worked.

Reviews

Critic Review:

‘A superb account’ 
Giles Foden

‘A fascinating evocation of Empire … this should be required reading’ 
Alex Benzie, Glasgow Herald

‘A work of dedicated and original scholarship … what emerges is the portrait of a singular and heroic man’ 
John Carey, Sunday Times

‘Bickers’ detailed recovery of an obscure and “unimportant” policeman’s life gives a valuable street-level view of a complex scene’ 
Robin Blake, Financial Times

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