[3] The title of the work Ornamentalism is a direct reference to Edward Said's book Orientalism, which argues the existence of prejudiced outsider interpretations of the East ("the Other"), shaped by the attitudes of European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

He argues that, by extension, "many British settlers overseas sought to create a full-scale replica of the elaborately graded social hierarchy they had left behind at home" (14).

Another key theme was a culture of ornamentalism that developed following Benjamin Disraeli's Imperial Titles Act of 1876 that declared Queen Victoria Empress of India.

Stanley Hoffmann, a history professor at Harvard University described the book as "delightful and instructive", revealing a "far more complex reality" of the British Empire.

[6] Richard Gott, a journalist and historian, argued that "his book is not just a restatement of traditional conservative history, it is a romantic and postmodernist version suitable for the New Labour era.