I'm British and my knowledge of the Empire and colonialism is terrible. I understand Britain did terrible things, but I don't know the details.
I pretty much only learnt about Britain's role in the slave trade at school, despite being educated in Britain.
Can you recommend any starter books on this subject? I don't want to be uneducated about atrocities committed by the Empire.
Edit: I understand that there are shades of gray when it comes to the Empire (and almost any historical event). However, I feel that I wasn't taught about many of those consequences which are generally viewed as negative in modern times, and this is a major gap in my knowledge.
Check out John Darwin’s After Tamerlane (which puts the British Empire in a global context — important to note is that the British Empire was not the first nor only empire, so having some context about what everyone else was doing might be helpful), and Ashley Jackson’s The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction. Darwin’s The Empire Project is good, but really, really dense, and I would suggest reading it after After Tamerlane
If you want a one-volume, soup-to-nuts summary, you might find Lawrence James' Rise and Fall of the British Empire accessible and thorough.
Incidentally, you might want to look at a general study of global empires around at the time - the Ottoman, Mughals, French, Spanish, to name just a handful - to get a idea of the spirit of much of the last 500 years.
And without wishing to sound too meta:
Bear in mind the British Empire was complex in structure and changing in form, lasting in one form or the other for hundreds of years - so like the other commenter said, I would be cautious about wading in with a 'this bad, that good' mentality.
More experienced commentators might want to weigh in about the risks of seeing history through a moral lens of 'good or bad.' What you will likely find - as anyone would find with a deep dive into a nuanced topic - are shades of grey.
Something that focuses specifically on the atrocities of the British Empire is The Blood Never Dried by John Newsinger. And it's not academic history but Sven Lindqvist's books - which intersperse history, travelogue, memoir, literary criticism and dreamscape - are worth reading and good jumping off points for more academic stuff - particularly Exterminate All The Brutes.
Please forgive me if I sound a little rude, but it seems like you’re entering into a period of study with a preconceived notion about colonial history. Reading history to fulfil a personal agenda is never a good thing, and it won’t benefit you in the long run. Yes, Britain did some terrible things under the banner of colonialism, but it also achieved some pretty phenomenal things that brought about global change for the good.
If probably start with Understanding the British Empire by Ronald Hyam.