Since its publication in 1967, Burden of Empire has been widely praised and criticized for its controversial approach to the problem of colonialism in Africa. The authors have challenged the new "orthodoxy" about Africa—the belief that little but evil and exploitation has resulted from the era of European colonialism. Burden of Empire is, therefore, in the words of George Shepperson, "a provocative thesis [which] could set off a controversy among historians similar to that engendered by Robinson"s and Gallagher"s Africa and the Victorians."