This book is not just written to enlighten. It is written with the optimism that it may contribute to a willingness to dismantle unsustainable 500-year-old hierarchies.

After five long centuries, the roots of colonialism still run deep.

This is a powerful new reckoning with Britain’s imperial legacy, its transformative effects on Britain and the Caribbean and its enduring role in systemic racism today. And it is a call for us all to learn from the challenges and failures of history and to play our part in creating a blueprint for the future.

We cannot change the past. But we can repair the present.