"The Evil Empire is essential reading for true-blue Americans and others oppressed by the English throughout history"

Nice to see everyone's moving on then. Luckily, over here in the Isles themselves we are getting over the past, although it's not an easy process as many here will attest. The recent Ireland/England match at Croke Park was a demonstration that the people have had enough of past divisions and conflict. Interestingly, much of the movement towards peace, although started by politicans is being made irreversible by the people themselves who are tired of the suffering (heck - we're all related anyway, as you can read here).

"but reservations were not fenced and most of them are many square miles in size" Don't even go there Ebbie - the US has nothing to be proud of in the way it has treated (and continues to do so) the indiginous population of North America. There might not have been concentration camps, but it's impossible to gauge the suffering created and perpetuated by the US Government and it's agents to this day (http://www.freepeltier.org/ is a good starting point for those in need of elucidation).

A lot of noise being made by people here, who to quote Dianavan"have always thought of England as a culture of oppression". Well, set your own house in order before you start criticising others. As far as a sordid history of oppression, ethnic cleansing and abuse of human rights goes we all know who is still writing history on that front at the moment.

But it's easy to mud-sling on Mudcat. As alanbit suggests, it's not the ordinary people who ran the British Empire but the same sort of egotistical, self-important tosser who run governments the world over to this day, and that rule applies wherever the people in charge behave in an unacceptable manner.

Although I have not read it, I suspect this odious little tome is designed to make people in the US feel less guilty about the fact their government is involved in oppression, torture and false imprisonment, whilst the sensationalist title will appeal to the less discerning readers amongst the populace.

For those in the US who actually want to take their heads out from up their arses a far more balanced read would be The Isles: A History by Norman Davis, which attempts a less anglo-centric history of the Islands.