Author Sathnam Sanghera has received online abuse and faced trolls for his bestselling book ‘Empireland, a journey through Britain’s imperial past.’
Since being published last month and being lauded by critics as acclaimed “unflinching … moving and stimulating” (the Guardian), and “excellent” and “balanced” (the Sunday Times), Sathnam Sanghera received handwritten hate mail, and thousands of abusive tweets, which the author tweeted about in response to some of the trolls.
Speaking to The Guardian, Sanghera said, “Empire has been weaponised by the right wing, ever since Black Lives Matter. Now there’s this idea that you need to be proud of imperial history to be proud of the country and vice versa. It’s become a proxy for patriotism and race.”
Historian William Dalrymple, Nihal Arthanayake, David Olusoga and many other supporters came out to stand with Sanghera during the outrage against his book. The author has been consistently taking on the trolls on his Twitter feed as his book continues to be a bestseller.
