The Scent of Empires – Chanel No. 5 And Red Moscow

This re-evaluation in Russia would have to wait until Napoleon’s death in 1821, but when it came to pass, it continued to occupy the imagination of Russia’s greatest writers for over 130 years. Although Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and subsequent defeat had a profound effect on Russian culture and Russian history, for Russian writers what was most important was the universal significance of Napoleon’s desire for world conquest and the idea of unbridled ambition which he embodied. Russian writers saw this, for good or ill, as potentially determining the spiritual and moral fate of future generations.

Many Struggles answers this call. Edited by one of the field’s leading specialists, Hakim Adi, the book features contributions from an array of emerging scholar-activists. Covering the sixteenth to the late twentieth century, the book reveals the long history of African and Caribbean people in Britain and the wider transformation of the diasporic community. Drawing on important and new archival research, the collection emphasizes often-neglected themes within ‘Black British History’, such as local histories, women, gender, sexuality, and political activism.