Lawrence James
Painting the Map Red
Running the Show: Governors of the British Empire 1857–1912
By Stephanie Williams
Viking 493pp £20 order from our bookshop
There was only one qualification needed for the post of a Victorian colonial governor: he had to be a gentleman. But gentlemen had to be tough and ingenious. Laying down the law in Lagos in the 1860s, John Glover placed a white feather in each of the sacred trees revered by a restless local tribe. He warned its chiefs that if they sent their warriors to war, then the feathers would ‘whisper in my ear and tell me what you will do and I will come, I and my chiefs with the army of the “Great White Queen” and I will wipe you out of the land, and there will be wailing in your camp’.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'The Craft’s first martyr', John Coustos 'became a celebrity and a sensational symbol for the causes it would claim: tolerance, rational inquiry, cross-border cosmopolitanism, relative equality and enlightened faith.'
@darrin_mcmahon on the freemasons.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/with-a-nudge-a-wink
'"Dutch Light" roots its subject in his local environment, explaining, for example, how an abundance of sand for making glass led naturally to a thriving business in optical instruments in Holland.'
Patricia Fara on the life & work of Christiaan Huygens.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/through-the-magnifying-glass
Sign up to our e-newsletter!
Get highlights from the new issue and selected archive articles, as well as exclusive competitions and subscription offers delivered straight to your inbox.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/freenewsletter