Better Britons

Nadine Attewell is an assistant professor in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University.

“Better Britons is an original and challenging study of reproductive policies in early twentieth-century settler-invader contexts. It offers sophisticated and provocative analyses of the connections between these policies as they were used to bolster tentative national identities in the closing era of the British empire. It makes an important and original contribution to postcolonial studies.”- Cynthia Sugars, Department of English, University of Ottawa “Nadine Attewell’s book is a rich and complex examination of the relationship between reproduction and national identity that encompasses modernist fiction, science fiction, and archival material on indigenous people in New Zealand and Australia. Its weaving together of these genres shows the continuities between legal, cultural, and literary texts.”- Radhika Mohanram, Professor of English and Critical and Cultural Theory, University of Cardiff ‘Attewell’s focus on specific moments of reproductive crisis across diverse geographies and genres allows her to illuminate the centrality of reproductive projects… Better Britons makes a welcome and valuable contribution to the field of empire studies.’- Eddy Kent (English Studies in Canada vol 41:04:2015) ‘Attewell offers an enlightening and meticulous interpretation of twentieth century British and post imperial literatures.’- Matthew Levay (Year’s Work in English Studies vol 95:01:2016)

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart One: Beginnings An Island Solution: Utopian Forms and the Routing of National IdentityWhiteness for Beginners: An Australian ExperimentPart Two: Endings “I kept on dreaming about the sea”: Foreclosure and the Aborting WomanApprehending Loss: Maternity at the MarginsShrunk in the (White)wash: Britain at World’s EndEnvoiNotes BibliographyIndex