Within two months of each other in 1791, two English women set sail with their husbands on relief missions to two recently established and far-flung British colonies, Botany Bay on the east coast of New Holland, and Sierra Leone, West Africa. Their narratives shed light on colonialism, gender, and the slave trade. Distributed by Continuum. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In Old New Zealand (1863), F.E. Maning recalls living alongside Maori in "the good old times before Governors were invented, and law, and justice, and all that." His account of the early contact period is widely acknowledged to be a masterpiece of some sort, but the extent to which it is fiction, autobiography, ethnography, history, or satire remains a matter for debate. This is the first scholarly edition of Maning's writings. It includes a revealing selection of Maning's unpublished letters, and Alex Calder contributes an introduction and notes that illuminate the works' historical, ethnographic, and literary contexts, showing how settler colonialism is an incomplete and contested process, the problems of which are enacted in Maning's writings, and repeated in the history of their reception.>

This book offers an up-to-date, comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of the multifaceted and evolving experiences of human rights in Sierra Leone between the years 1787 and 2016. It provides a balanced coverage of the local and international conditions that frame the socio-cultural, political, and economic context of human rights: its rise and fall, and concerns for the broader engendered issues of the transatlantic slave trade, colonialism, women’s struggle for recognition, constitutional development, political independence, war, and transitional justice (as well as "contributive justice," which the author introduces to explain the consequences of the problems of the temporal nature of transitional justice, and the crisis of donor fatigue towards peacebuilding activities), local government, democracy, and constitutional reforms within Sierra Leone. While acknowledging the profound challenges associated with the promotion of human rights in an environment of uncertainty, political fragility, lawlessness, and deprivation, John Idriss Lahai sheds light on the often-constructive engagement of the people of Sierra Leone with a variety of societal conditions, adverse or otherwise, to influence constitutional change, the emergent post-coflict discourse on "contributive justice," and acceptable human rights practice. This book will be of interest to scholars in West African history, legal history, African studies, peace and conflict studies, human rights and transitional justice.

"In 1878 a German named Overbeck and an Englishman named Dent travelled to North Borneo (now Sabah), announced to the locals that their ruler, the Sultan of Brunei, had sold all trade rights in the region, and left a young man named William Pryer to 'establish' the British North Borneo Company there. In 1894 Ada Pryer, who had married William in 1883, published her account of his early years as an administrator, along with some sketches of their life together. The result is a lively, vivid and compelling narrative." "The only book aimed at presenting North Borneo appealingly to British audiences, and thus capturing their political support for the British commercial presence there, Ada's little book functioned as a kind of immigration manual about a land where snakes were scarce and moonlight was plentiful. The memoir has value both as a travel narrative in its own right and for understanding the international politics of the British takeover of North Borneo." "This new edition reproduces the text of the original 1894 edition, and includes an introductory essay as well as annotations to explain and contextualize references of historical and biographical significance."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Imperial Boredom offers a radical reconsideration of the British Empire during its heyday in the nineteenth century. Challenging the long-established view that the empire was about adventure and excitement, with heroic men and intrepid women eagerly spreading commerce and civilization around the globe, this thoroughly researched, engagingly written, and lavishly illustrated account suggests instead that boredom was central to the experience of empire. Combining individual stories of pain and perseverance with broader analysis, Professor Auerbach considers what it was actually like to sail to Australia, to serve as a soldier in South Africa, or to accompany a colonial official to the hill stations of India. He reveals that for numerous men and women, from explorers to governors, tourists to settlers, the Victorian Empire was dull and disappointing. Drawing on diaries, letters, memoirs, and travelogues, Imperial Boredom demonstrates that all across the empire, men and women found the landscapes monotonous, the physical and psychological distance from home debilitating, the routines of everyday life wearisome, and their work tedious and unfulfilling. The empires early years may have been about wonder and marvel, but the Victorian Empire was a far less exciting project. Many books about the British Empire focus on what happened; this book concentrates on how people felt.

Telling West Indian Lives: Life Narrative and the Reform of Plantation Slavery Cultures 1804-1834 draws historical and literary attention to life story and narration in the late plantation slavery period. Drawing on new archival research, it highlights the ways written narrative shaped evangelical, philanthropic, and antislavery reform projects.