Love, Class and Empire

An English Family Saga in the Middle East

A James Hammerton author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Publishing:31st Jul '25

£29.99

This title is due to be published on 31st July, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

Love, Class and Empire cover

Explores social mobility and expatriate love and sexuality in the late British empire, through two families in Iran and Iraq.

Focusing on the experiences of two British expatriate families in Iran and Iraq, this study explores the impact of rapid social mobility in the late imperial era. Drawing on a wealth of personal letters and diaries, A. James Hammerton offers a close and evocative portrait of expatriate love and sexuality.Early twentieth-century Persia and the Persian Gulf presented a largely blank slate to the British, best known only as a vital conduit to India and a site of contest – the 'great game' – with the Russian Empire. As oil discoveries and increasing trade brought new attention, the expanding telegraph and river shipping industries attracted resourceful men into junior positions in remote outposts. Love, Class and Empire explores the experiences of two of these men and their families. Drawing on a wealth of personal letters and diaries, A. James Hammerton examines the complexities of expatriate life in Iran and Iraq, in particular the impact of rapid social mobility on ordinary Britons and their families in the late imperial era. Uniquely, the study blends histories of empire with histories of marriage and family, closely exploring the nature of expatriate love and sexuality. In the process, Hammerton discloses a tender expatriate love story and offers a moving account of transient life in a corner of the informal empire.

ISBN: 9781009541749

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

256 pages