The foremost postcolonial theorist in Britain Times Higher Education Supplement In pursuing the historical past of postcolonial discourse, Robert Young makes a truly insightful and inventive contribution to the development of the field. His intricate and exhaustive study finds its inspiration in the exhilarating events and ideals of anti-colonialist struggle. Inspired by the imaginative spirit of emancipation, Young argues that the great anti-colonial movements were also transformative and hybrid moments that reshaped both power and knowledge. The fine achievement of this provocative account lies in reviving and revising the remarkable dawning of the Third World as we emerge into the global conceits of the third millennium. Homi K. Bhabha, Harvard University Robert Young points postcolonial studies in new directions, paradoxically by offering a timely reminder of the field's historical beginnings in anticolonial struggles. This book combines scholarship and polemic admirably in its project of situating and redirecting postcolonial studies today. It is a major work, marking a turning-point in thinking and research in the field. Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, Nehru Memorial Library, New Delhi Steadfastly avoiding the glib formulas and fashionable notions with which Eng Lit is now awash, Young gives us instead a meticulously researched, soberly detailed set of histories - of classical European colonialism, international socialism, and a range of nationalist movements from China and Egypt to Cuba and Algeria. The result is a timely portrait of the various unsavoury ways in which the West has sought cynically to derail emancipation of others while prating piously of its own liberties. Terry Eagleton, Times Literary Supplement Young (Oxford) offers a panoramic view of the political and intellectual origins of postcolonial thought. Young helpfully synthesizes a great deal of material. In addition to the canonical topics, he covers some that are neglected by most scholars. Highly recommended for upper-division undergraduates through faculty. Choice Young does a brilliant job in laying the foundations for the further understanding of this urgent dilemma. Times Higher Education Supplement
