Product Description

The supposedly glorious history of British civilization is a lie, a long and bloody lie. With the help of his trusty Internet browser and public library card, Steve Grasse has discovered how the British Empire has had a hand in every major war of the millennium and every calamity facing us in the twenty-first century - starvation, poverty, Nazis, Communists, terrorists, you name it - if the Americans are taking the rap for it, the British are probably behind it. If global hegemony were a Ford Mustang, George Bush's iron hand would be calmly gripping the stick and Tony Blair would be riding shotgun. That's okay with Steve Grasse, who doesn't seek to disrupt England's longstanding status as our trusty albeit fey buddy nation. Grasse sees America as Britain's snotty younger brother. Deep down, we love our older sibling, but he can be such an arrogant prick sometimes that we can't help but throw our arm over his shoulder and kindly point out some of his more glaring faults. At a moment when Anglo/American relations are experiencing unprecedented stress, this irreverent bit of muckraking is sure to be the talk of the British public.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40329 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From the Back Cover
In The Evil Empire, Steven A. Grasse exposes the secret history
of England's global misdeeds. He asks what few have dared to ask: Having
spent the better half of the millennium turning the world into their
personal litter box, where do the English get off blaming everything on
America?

After all, whose imperialistic shenanigans is Osama bin Laden really trying
to avenge? Whose landgrabbing ways put the Palestinians and Israelis at
each others throats? Who invented machine guns, wage slavery and
concentration camps?

The closer you look at English history, the more you realize they're in no
position to be pointing fingers. This outrageous indictment is sure to make
blue bloods boil on both sides of the Atlantic.

Steven A. Grasse is a man of many talents. He is the founder and CEO of a
large independent ad agency, owns several successful clothing and liquor
brands, and has written and directed many independent films. This is his
first book.

About the Author
Steven A. Grasse is a cultural studies analyst and media
communications expert, who has extensively studied the British Empire. He
is also the spokesperson for the International Coalition for British
Reparations (ICBR), a massive global initiative for reparations from
England worth 58 trillion dollars.

Steven's ancestors first came to America back in the early 1600s to escape
British persecution, and have been striking back against their oppressors
for hundreds of years. They have fought in every major U.S. conflict,
including
the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, both against the British. This
is his first book, and given the Brits' thin skins and their adeptness at
manipulating history, he will not be surprised if it turns out to be his
last.

Penny Rimbaud is an author, poet, performance artist and cultural
terrorist. He is perhaps best known for being the drummer, lyricist and
co-founder of the seminal anarchist band Crass. Crass were a product of
Dial House, the free-thinking open house in Essex, England that Rimbaud
founded in the late sixties and still makes his home. Throughout his long
creative life, Rimbaud has been fearlessly outspoken in his criticism both
of the past and present brutalities, hypocrisies and arrogances of his
native United Kingdom.

Customer Reviews

Neither funny nor enlightening
I read this expecting an amusing swipe at British history and was very disappointed. The history aspect consists of lightly touched rants on topics that are covered in millions of other books (if you didn't know the facts discussed you could save you money and get the same detail from about 30 seconds of searching on the internet).

For a humourous book it fails on a fairly major point that it's not funny. Satire need to be well written and IF this is meant to be humourous it just comes across as the kind of hateful rant you'd see a teenager write on an internet forum.

Should have been titled "101 things I dislike about Britain"
I can grant the author some repsite on the fact that he has raised some valid and true points in regard to Britain's contribution to climate change, provoking Osama Bin Laden and general imperialism among other things.

The major fault of the book is that it seems to focus more on the author's opinions on certain British customs (some of them being little more than stereotypes, which I'll point out later) rather than how it has ruined the world. The list is far too long to put here, so I'll pick out but a handful of examples.

*How exactly is Brtitain's lack of worship toward Hip-Hop culture a way of ruining world?

*I couldnt believe it when I saw it, but there were chapters devoted to criticizing Britain's afternoon tea breaks and monarch worship. This is just laughable. Again, I must ask, how these ruin the world? Secondly, they're based on nothing more than caricatures of Britain. Ask any British person today what their opinions on the royal family are, and I'd guarantee the majority would be negative. Plus, the concept of an afternoon tea break is something left behind along with the colonial days. Trust me, I've lived in this country all my life, along with many others I've met who've found the concept hilarious.

*The author goes on the criticise Britain on the charge that while South America and China where building temples and pyramids, the Celts were building little more than erected stone blocks. How is retarded architectural development a crime? And how does it ruin the world? By that logic, we should condemn the majority of African and Native North American cultures as well.

*As another poster pointed out, he also has the gall the criticise Britain for having lower casualties on D-day than American servicemen. I know plenty of WWII veterans who would find this claim to be nothing short of evil. So now we have to judge the contribution of a nation at war by how many deaths it suffers.

*He implies that he supports the war on terror, yet hypocritically condemns Britain for inventing the machine gun.

The book had potential, but the end result is little more than opinionated garbage. My personal theory is that rather than having FOUND 101 ways Britain ruined the world, he SET OUT to find 101 ways, ran out of charges, then decided to add some more based on his personal views on certain customs, no matter how ridiculous.

Doubtlessly, the author would point out that I am confirming his idea that Brits are "Difficult Listeners" unable to take any criticism on their country's history. Well, maybe if he practised what he preached on the title rather than degenerate into a desperate, internet teenager's rant based on stereotypes and opinions labelled as facts, I would have gladly reccomended it to fellow countrymen.

Truly horrific - the worst book EVER
I bought this book as a laugh, bacause i thought i wanted to see a laughable side of the British Empire, but in fact, what i got was a brutal attack on Blighty with absolutely NO meaningful arguments, MANY blatant lies and horrible oversights, but worst of all, NO humour. I really think he was serious when he wrote this.
He says we ruined the world because we invented the machine gun- but wait, didnt the USA invent nuclear weapons?
It is also claimed that the British Empire put a claim on Antarctica, but what Grasse fails to see is that the Americans put a claim on an entire PLANET- the moon, which still plays host to the stars and stripes.
Some of the arguments dont even have anything to do with ruining the world- "Theyre way too polite" - how does this ruin the world? I mean, its not like this custom virtually wiped out the Native Americans.
In fact, while im on the point, most of the arguments are truly horrific. They author clearly overlooks the fact that America has done some things just as bad, perhaps even worse. In my opinion, this "author" is evil- this one accusation of the ruining of the world shows just how much- "D-Day- did they do their share?". I dont know aobut you but this is sick. He should be respecting the war dead, not slandering their memory. But whilst we're slinging mud, the British isles lost around 1,000,000 men in WW1, compared to around 70,000 American losses. So, the question could be poised -"WW1- did America do their share?".
This man is both evil and stupid, and his book is not so much a collection of laughable faults but a meangerie of how stupid some people are.