Between Empire and Revolution:
A Life of Sidney Bunting, 1873–1936
Allison Drew
Empires in Perspective
978 1 85196 893 0: 234x156mm: £60.00/$99.00
978 1 85196 538 0
This is the first scholarly biography of Sidney Bunting. His life offers a unique perspective on the British Empire, illustrating the complex social networks and values that were carried across the world in the name of empire. The lawyer son of renowned Wesleyan social activists, Bunting was radicalised in South Africa. He was a founding member of the Communist Party and campaigned for black emancipation.
Allison Drew draws on archival material which has only recently become available, including the Bunting family papers, records of Bunting’s Oxford years, trial transcripts from Bunting’s legal and political career, and the Comintern archives.
Sample pages
Readership
Empire Studies, South African Studies, History of Communism
Contents
Introduction
1 To save souls
2 God and Gladstone
3 A classical boy
4 Imperial university
5 Fighting for empire
6 An Englishman in Johannesburg
7 A new gospel
8 The star in the East
9 The earth is the workers’
10 Fighting against empire
11 For a native republic
12 Into the wilderness
13 Falling from grace
14 A weary soul
Conclusion
Reviews
'Drew’s excellent biography of Bunting captures the extraordinary paradoxes of his life ... superbly researched and beautifully written.'
– Jonathan Hyslop, Twentieth-Century British History
'Unquestionably this very readable volume will remain the authoritative scholarly study of Sidney Percival Bunting, one of South Africa's most remarkable communist pioneers.'
– Sheridan Johns, H-Net (read the full review here)
'Allison Drew has written an unbelievably detailed chronicle of Sindey's life. It is an engaging life of an outstanding personality.'
– Irina Filatova, African Historical Review
'a painstakingly researched account of Bunting’s family background and life, filled with information drawn from a wide range of mainly documentary sources'
– Socialist History
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