The Sun Never Sets: Travels to the Remaining Outposts of the British Empire

The author recounts his experiences traveling to Diego Garcia, Tristan, Gibraltar, Ascension Island, St. Helena, Hong Kong, Bermuda, the British West Indies, the Falklands, and Pitcairn Island, all remnants of the vast British Empire

Spurred by his experience as an Argentine prisoner during the 1982 Falkland War, British travel writer Winchester determined to see what remained of the once-glorious British Empire. Some three years and 100,000 miles later he completed an often dismaying, disillusioning yet somehow proud "Imperial Progress." Here he describes with vivid recall, and with the aid of some esoteric history and lore, his sojourns on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia; on Tristan de Cunha and St. Helena in the South Atlantic, on Gibraltar, whose 30 miles of rock-hewn tunnels feature a Catholic Church, a pub and a fish-and-chips shop. Britain's "outposts" today suffer from considerable neglect, reports the author; Pitcairn in the Pacific is nearly depopulated, while the Caymans in the Caribbean serve as tax havens for rich Americans or stopovers for drug smugglers. Only Hong Kong remains an important remnant of the empire (until China claims it in 1997) and it is here that Winchester's descriptive powers are at their most satisfying. Photos.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

There is still a British Empire, and it is distributed in such a way that the sun shines on some portion of it at most, if not quite all, times. There is Hong Kong, of course, Bermuda, St. Helena, Ascension, Pitcairn, Gibraltar, and a host of other places, most of which are not easily reached. In the last few years Winchester has managed to visit all those colonies which are still governed by a resident British diplomat. He was in the Falklands at the time of the Ar gentine invasion (and spent three months in jail as a consequence). He also writes of the shameful removal of the Chagos Islanders to make way for the U.S. naval base on Diego Garcia. His skillful blend of political reporting, colonial history, and vivid travel writ ing makes for a fascinating book that should be a first choice for most librar ies. Harold M. Otness, Southern Ore gon State Coll. Lib., Ashland
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.