The Evil Empire: 101 Ways That England Ruined the World

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The Evil Empire: 101 Ways That England Ruined the World
Author	Steve Grasse (as Steven A. Grasse)
Year Published	2007
Language	English

The Evil Empire: 101 Ways That England Ruined the World is a 2007 American book written by advertising executive Steve Grasse under the extended name of Steven A. Grasse.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Criticisms 2.1 General criticisms 2.2 Historical inaccuracies 2.3 Absurdist arguments 3 References 4 External links

Overview

The book is a xenophobic attack against the British, blaming all of the worlds ills solely on Great Britain both during and after its colonial reign. Through a series of unsourced arguments, Grasse attempts to blame several incidents solely on the British Empire with nothing but anglophobic prejudice to support his arguments.

Criticisms

General criticisms

The book was criticised in both the United Kingdom and in the United States on all areas of the political spectrum in those countries.

The principal criticism in the United Kingdom was that Grasse was attempting to overturn anti-American sentiment in the world by putting the blame on America's sole ally.^[1] In the United States, the book attracted criticism for incriminating the American people by Grasse's self-proclaimed title as "voice of the American people", inferring that all Americans were xenophobic.^[2] It was also attacked for increasing anti-American sentiment in the United Kingdom and Europe instead of overturning it.^[3] The book was disregarded as an academic source on Wikipedia due to its lack of serious historical research.^[4]

On various newspaper forums, the book also received criticism from other countries, including Russia, Australia, and Spain, all of whom looked upon the book as "childish" and "ignorant".^[5]

Historical inaccuracies

One of the greatest arguments against the book was its lack of historical accuracy.^[6] In most cases, Grasse focusses solely on Great Britain and omits the involvement of other countries in particular conflicts, such as French involvement in the Opium Wars. Other examples of historical inaccuracies include:

• The invention of the Machine gun (this was actually an American invention, not British)^[7]

• The First World War (Grasse focusses solely on the Naval Arms Race between Britain and Germany and ignores the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, widely regarded as the true cause of the war)

• The Vietnam War (Grasse claims that Britain was responsible by promoting colonialism and prompting France to establish a colony in Vietnam, disregarding tensions between North and South Vietnam that led to the war)

Absurdist arguments

Among the complaints made regarding the work was Grasse's reliance on trivial matters and personal views to reach his 101 mark, thus making his arguments against the British appear weak and pointless. In some cases, such arguments were questioned as to how they could have possibly "ruined" the world, thus:

• The creation of Punch and Judy

• That all Britons are allegedly homosexual^[8]

• The knighthood of Elton John

Some of these claims were seen as so ridiculous that some tabloids claimed that the book should be regarded as humourous.^[9]

References

External links

• The Evil Empire at Google Books