Inglorious Empire

Author: Shashi Tharoor
Publisher: Penguin Group
ISBN: 9780141987149
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Inglorious Empire' tells the real story of the British in India from the arrival of the East India Company to the end of the Raj, revealing how Britain's rise was built upon its plunder of India. In the eighteenth century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die from starvation. British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes on and demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial "gift" - from the railways to the rule of law -was designed in Britain's interests alone. He goes on to show how Britain's Industrial Revolution was founded on India's deindustrialisation, and the destruction of its textile industry.

An Era of Darkness

Author: Shashi Tharoor
Publisher: Aleph Book Company
ISBN: 9789383064656
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A few years later, the young and weakened Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II, was browbeaten into issuing an edict that replaced his own revenue officials with the Company s representatives. Over the next several decades, the East India Company, backed by the British government, extended its control over most of India

Empireland

Author: Sathnam Sanghera
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 0593316681
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
A best-selling journalist’s illuminating tour through the hidden legacies and modern realities of British empire that exposes how much of the present-day United Kingdom is actually rooted in its colonial past. Empireland boldly and lucidly makes the case that in order to understand America, we must first understand British imperialism. "Empireland is brilliantly written, deeply researched and massively important. It’ll stay in your head for years.” —John Oliver, Emmy Award-winning host of "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" With a new introduction by the author and a foreword by Booker Prize-winner Marlon James A best-selling journalist’s illuminating tour through the hidden legacies and modern realities of British empire that exposes how much of the present-day United Kingdom is actually rooted in its colonial past. Empireland boldly and lucidly makes the case that in order to understand America, we must first understand British imperialism. Empire—whether British or otherwise—informs nearly everything we do. From common thought to our daily routines; from the foundations of social safety nets to the realities of racism; and from the distrust of public intellectuals to the exceptionalism that permeates immigration debates, the Brexit campaign and the global reckonings with controversial memorials, Empireland shows how the pernicious legacy of Western imperialism undergirds our everyday lives, yet remains shockingly obscured from view. In accessible, witty prose, award-winning journalist and best-selling author Sathnam Sanghera traces this legacy back to its source, exposing how—in both profound and innocuous ways—imperial domination has shaped the United Kingdom we know today. Sanghera connects the historical dots across continents and seas to show how the shadows of a colonial past still linger over modern-day Britain and how the world, in turn, was shaped by Britain’s looming hand. The implications, of course, extend to Britain’s most notorious former colony turned imperial power: the United States of America, which prides itself for its maverick soul and yet seems to have inherited all the ambition, brutality and exceptional thinking of its parent. With a foreword by Booker Prize–winner Marlon James, Empireland is a revelatory and lucid work of political history that offers a sobering appraisal of the past so we may move toward a more just future.

India in the Shadows of Empire

Author: Mithi Mukherjee
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019908811X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422

Book Description
This book explains the postcolonial Indian polity by presenting an alternative historical narrative of the British Empire in India and India's struggle for independence. It pursues this narrative along two major trajectories. On the one hand, it focuses on the role of imperial judicial institutions and practices in the making of both the British Empire and the anti-colonial movement under the Congress, with the lawyer as political leader. On the other hand, it offers a novel interpretation of Gandhi's non-violent resistance movement as being different from the Congress. It shows that the Gandhian movement, as the most powerful force largely responsible for India's independence, was anchored not in western discourses of political and legislative freedom but rather in Indic traditions of renunciative freedom, with the renouncer as leader. This volume offers a comprehensive and new reinterpretation of the Indian Constitution in the light of this historical narrative. The book contends that the British colonial idea of justice and the Gandhian ethos of resistance have been the two competing and conflicting driving forces that have determined the nature and evolution of the Indian polity after independence.

India

Author: Shashi Tharoor
Publisher: Penguin Books India
ISBN: 9780143103240
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 424

Book Description
&Lsquo;Well-Balanced, Informative And Highly Readable&Rsquo;&Mdash;Amartya Sen India: From Midnight To The Millennium And Beyond Is An Eloquent Argument For The Importance Of India To The Future Of The Industrialized World. Shashi Tharoor Shows Compellingly That India Stands At The Intersection Of The Most Significant Questions Facing The World Today. If Democracy Leads To Inefficient Political Infighting, Should It Be Sacrificed In The Interest Of Economic Well-Being? Does Religious Fundamentalism Provide A Way For Countries In The Developing World To Assert Their Identity In The Face Of Western Hegemony, Or Is There A Case For Pluralism And Diversity Amid Cultural And Religious Traditions? Does The Entry Of Western Consumer Goods Threaten A Country&Rsquo;S Economic Self-Sufficiency, And Is Protectionism The Only Guarantee Of Independence? The Answers To Such Questions Will Determine What The Nature Of Our World Is In The Twenty-First Century. And Since Indians Account For Almost One-Sixth Of The World&Rsquo;S Population Today, Their Choices Will Resonate Throughout The Globe. Shashi Tharoor Deals With This Vast Theme In A Work Of Remarkable Depth And Startling Originality, Combining Elements Of Political Scholarship, Personal Reflection, Memoir, Fiction, And Polemic, All Illuminated In Vivid And Compelling Prose.

Indian Summer

Author: Alex Von Tunzelmann
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312428112
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 516

Book Description
An extraordinary story of romance, history, and divided loyalties--set against the backdrop of one of the most dramatic events of the 20th century--"Indian Summer" reveals how Britain ceased to be a superpower after it lost India as a colony.

The British Empire

Author: Stephen W. Sears
Publisher: New Word City
ISBN: 1612308090
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 759

Book Description
In 1815, the British controlled the seas. Before the end of the nineteenth century, they ruled Australia, India, New Zealand, half of Africa, half of North America, and islands all around the globe. Theirs was the most powerful empire the world has ever known. Here is the story of how the English acquired their vast domain; how they ruled, maintained, and exploited it; and how, within decades, they presided over its dissolution. Here are Britain's triumphs and also her stinging defeats, her heroes and her scoundrels. It is a full and fascinating chronicle of the growth of the British Empire and its people and of the impact that empire had on the rest of the world.

A Critique from the Left

Author: Avi Bachenheimer
Publisher: Birdwood Production
ISBN: 0464915082
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 94

Book Description
Shashi Tharoor’s “Inglorious Empire” is an account of “What the British did to India”. The book is composed in eight chapters through which Tharoor deals with the implications of two centuries of British colonialism. The author assembles a thematic record of deliberate policies pursued by the British aristocracy and he examines how those strategies in action, led to the depredation and looting of the Indian resources, starvation of its people, fragmentation of its social identity and destruction of its cultural and economic base in the course of two centuries. Tharoor’s book is not a chronology of the British colonial machinery and it should not be treated so. The narrative is shaped to converge in certain historical events – such as partition of India – in a flowing arrangement of themes that are the over-arching characteristic of the record the author is providing.

Empire Families

Author: Elizabeth Buettner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199249075
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Book Description
What was life like for the British men, women, and children who lived in late imperial India while serving the Raj? Empire Families treats the Raj as a family affair and examines how, and why, many remained linked with India over several generations.Due to the fact that India was never meant for permanent European settlement, many families developed deep-rooted ties with India while never formally emigrating. Their lives were dominated by long periods of residence abroad punctuated by repeated travels between Britain and India: childhood overseas followed by separation from parents and education in Britain; adult returns to India through careers or marriage; furloughs, and ultimately retirement, in Britain. As a result, many Britonsneither felt themselves to be rooted in India, nor felt completely at home when back in Britain. Their permanent impermanence led to the creation of distinct social realities and cultural identities.Empire Families sets out to recreate this society by looking at a series of families, their lives in India, and their travels back to Britain. Focusing for the first time on the experiences of parents and children alike, and including the Beveridge, Butler, Orwell, and Kipling families, Elizabeth Buettner uncovers the meanings of growing up in the Raj and an itinerant imperial lifestyle.

The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone

Author: Shashi Tharoor
Publisher: Penguin Books India
ISBN: 9780670081455
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Book Description
For More Than Four Decades After Gaining Independence, India, With Its Massive Size And Population, Staggering Poverty And Slow Rate Of Growth, Was Associated With The Plodding, Somnolent Elephant, Comfortably Resting On Its Achievements Of Centuries Gone By. Then In The Early 1990S The Elephant Seemed To Wake Up From Its Slumber And Slowly Begin To Change Until Today, In The First Decade Of The Twenty-First Century, Some Have Begun To See It Morphing Into A Tiger. As India Turns Sixty, Shashi Tharoor, Novelist And Essayist, Reminds Us Of The Paradox That Is India, The Elephant That Is Becoming A Tiger: With The Highest Number Of Billionaires In Asia, It Still Has The Largest Number Of People Living Amid Poverty And Neglect, And More Children Who Have Not Seen The Inside Of A Schoolroom Than Any Other Country. So What Does The Twenty-First Century Hold For India? Will It Bring The Strength Of The Tiger And The Size Of An Elephant To Bear Upon The World? Or Will It Remain An Elephant At Heart? In More Than Sixty Essays Organized Thematically Into Six Parts, Shashi Tharoor Analyses The Forces That Have Made Twenty-First Century India And Could Yet Unmake It. He Discusses The Country S Transformation In His Characteristic Lucid Prose, Writing With Passion And Engagement On A Broad Range Of Subjects, From The Very Notion Of Indianness In A Pluralist Society To The Evolution Of The Once Sleeping Giant Into A World Leader In The Realms Of Science And Technology; From The Men And Women Who Make Up His India Gandhi And Nehru And The Less Obvious Ramanujan And Krishna Menon To An Eclectic Array Of Indian Experiences And Realities, Virtual And Spiritual, Political And Filmi. The Book Is Leavened With Whimsical And Witty Pieces On Cricket, Bollywood And The National Penchant For Holidays, And Topped Off With An A To Z Glossary On Indianness, Written With Tongue Firmly In Cheek. Diverting And Instructive As Ever, Artfully Combining Hard Facts And Statistics With Personal Opinions And Observations, Tharoor Offers A Fresh, Insightful Look At This Timeless And Fast-Changing Society, Emphasizing That India Must Rise Above The Past If It Is To Conquer The Future.