I agree so much with what you have said here. I shamefully knew very little about the exploits of the British empire until adulthood.

Understanding British colonialism is so crucial to make sense of everything happening the world today, it should be at the top of the history curriculum in British schools and taught from a wide range of perspectives. Visiting secondary schools recently for my daughter, I was pretty shocked at the way they still teach subjects like The Crusades from such a colonial perspective. This is in an inner London state school!

Children’s books definitely should be filling in these cracks (or more like giant holes!) in the curriculum. I do have a fantastic book to recommend; it’s is called The History Book, written and illustrated by a group of Danish graduate students in the 1970s and translated into English published by a small press in the US. It is the history of the modern world and how it was shaped by imperialism, colonialism and capitalism. The whole book is available to view online, I’ll try to find you a link. I also have a physical copy I managed to get hold of, it is also beautifully illustrated. I would be very happy to show you some time. The books ends in the 1970s, there really needs to be a second and updated edition!