Cult of Progress

Description

What happened to art in the great Age of Discovery when civilisations encountered each other for the first time? In the Americas, the Spanish were so baffled by Aztec art that they melted the gold treasures they looted, repurposing it to make their own glorious art. David Olusoga explores the reactions of Europeans in Africa amidst the Ife and Kongo, and show Albert Eckhout's incredible studies of Brazilians as encountered by the Dutch. Olusoga explains how the Japanese remained steadfast to their own artistic identity in the face of their own increasing influence from the Dutch, and show how on the other hand India was changed forever by the arrival of the East India Company.

David Olusoga is an Anglo-Nigerian historian and producer. Working across radio and television, his programmes have explored the themes of colonialism, slavery and scientific racism. He has travelled extensively in Africa, and has been drawn to Namibia and its troubled history for several years. He has written three books: The Kaiser's Holocaust, The World's War and Black and British: A Forgotten History. He currently works as a producer for the BBC. Find him on Twitter @David Olusoga http://www.davidolusoga.com/

Olusoga is a smart and inventive narrator, with a keen historical curiosity and effortless style -- Faramerz Dabhoiwala * Guardian * Told with great fluency and clarity of style ... a highly readable and engaging account -- Kwasi Kwarteng * Sunday Times * An insightful take from a great writer * History Revealed * Praise for Black and British: A Forgotten History You could not ask for a more judicious, comprehensive and highly readable survey of a part of British history that has been so long overlooked or denied. David Olusoga is a superb guide. -- Adam Hochschild Groundbreaking * Observer * [A] comprehensive and important history of black Britain . . . Written with a wonderful clarity of style and with great force and passion. -- Kwasi Kwarteng * Sunday Times * A radical reappraisal of the parameters of history, exposing lacunae in the nation's version of its past -- Arifa Akbar * Guardian * Praise for The Kaiser's Holocaust [A] haunting book ... an unforgettable and unflinching account of a neglected atrocity * Sunday Telegraph * (A) provocative and uncomfortably absorbing book. ... Impressively researched ... Olusoga and Erichsen, with their novelist's flair for narrative, provide a grimly readable history ... d deserves to be read widely. -- Ian Thomson * Daily Telegraph *