Stuff the British Stole by Marc Fennell

Stuff the British Stole is Marc Fennell's book from his ABC and CBC series of the same name, about the objects the British Empire took, and the long fights to get them back.

Fennell, a Walkley-winning Australian journalist, works through a run of contested treasures held in museums and private collections around the world: how they were taken, who they belong to, and why giving them back is so fraught. It is part travel writing, part true crime, part reckoning with history, and it is often very funny.

For Australian readers there is the Gweagal shield, taken at Botany Bay when Cook landed in 1770 and long held in London, one of the most charged repatriation stories close to home.

Narrative non-fiction for readers of Stan Grant, and for anyone who followed the series.