Women of the Raj

Author: Margaret MacMillan
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812976398
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Book Description
In the nineteenth century, at the height of colonialism, the British ruled India under a government known as the Raj. British men and women left their homes and traveled to this mysterious, beautiful country–where they attempted to replicate their own society. In this fascinating portrait, Margaret MacMillan examines the hidden lives of the women who supported their husbands’ conquests–and in turn supported the Raj, often behind the scenes and out of the history books. Enduring heartbreaking separations from their families, these women had no choice but to adapt to their strange new home, where they were treated with incredible deference by the natives but found little that was familiar. The women of the Raj learned to cope with the harsh Indian climate and ward off endemic diseases; they were forced to make their own entertainment–through games, balls, and theatrics–and quickly learned to abide by the deeply ingrained Anglo-Indian love of hierarchy. Weaving interviews, letters, and memoirs with a stunning selection of illustrations, MacMillan presents a vivid cultural and social history of the daughters, sisters, mothers, and wives of the men at the center of a daring imperialist experiment–and reveals India in all its richness and vitality. “A marvellous book . . . [Women of the Raj] successfully [re-creates] a vanished world that continues to hold a fascination long after the sun has set on the British empire.” –The Globe and Mail “MacMillan has that essential quality of the historian, a narrative gift.” –The Daily Telegraph “MacMillan is a superb writer who can bring history to life.” –The Philadelphia Inquirer “Well researched and thoroughly enjoyable.” –Evening Standard

Women Against the Raj

Author: Chloë Gardner
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
ISBN: 1399066250
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
This is the story of the women from the Indian Subcontinent who fought against British imperial power from the 1600s until the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. It begins by looking at the Partition of India, and the unique impact this had on women who – in addition to the displacement and violence which affected millions of South Asians, suffered uniquely through a campaign of rape, abduction, and forced suicides which left a lasting impact on the souls of women from every community. It then seeks to shine a light on the often-forgotten story of these women – who were not just passive victims of British, and later, communal violence, but who fought alongside (or sometimes at the head of) their male counterparts to secure the fall of the British Raj and the independence of their own nation. The stories of up to forty women, are examined, from various religious and racial communities across South Asia who advocated for Indian Independence and should be remembered and celebrated as influential freedom fighters in the same way that their male contemporaries have been. The book concludes by briefly examining the role of women in Indian nationalist movements today, and how this can be traced to the precedent set by their ancestors during the colonial era.

Wicked Women Of The Raj : European Women Who Broke Society Rules And Married Life

Author: Coralie Younger
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
An unputdownablc factual account of the zenana world of the rajas and sultans of India, concentrating on the firangi bahus and begums of this veiled world of myths and folklores. The book gives us the stories of twenty different European women who broke society's rules to marry the 'heathen' Indian princes. Who were these women? Were they gold-diggers, or hopeless romantics hoping to enact their own Cinderella fairy-tale? Did they live happily ever after? Set against the backdrop of India's independence struggle, the book has a delicious and potent mix of flavours - the end of the British Raj and the downfall of the pompous and extravagant Indian aristocracy.

Beyond the Veil

Author: Pran Nevile
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : British
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Book Description

The British in India

Author: David Gilmour
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374713243
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 641

Book Description
An immersive portrait of the lives of the British in India, from the seventeenth century to Independence Who of the British went to India, and why? We know about Kipling and Forster, Orwell and Scott, but what of the youthful forestry official, the enterprising boxwallah, the fervid missionary? What motivated them to travel halfway around the globe, what lives did they lead when they got there, and what did they think about it all? Full of spirited, illuminating anecdotes drawn from long-forgotten memoirs, correspondence, and government documents, The British in India weaves a rich tapestry of the everyday experiences of the Britons who found themselves in “the jewel in the crown” of the British Empire. David Gilmour captures the substance and texture of their work, home, and social lives, and illustrates how these transformed across the several centuries of British presence and rule in the subcontinent, from the East India Company’s first trading station in 1615 to the twilight of the Raj and Partition and Independence in 1947. He takes us through remote hill stations, bustling coastal ports, opulent palaces, regimented cantonments, and dense jungles, revealing the country as seen through British eyes, and wittily reveling in all the particular concerns and contradictions that were a consequence of that limited perspective. The British in India is a breathtaking accomplishment, a vivid and balanced history written with brio, elegance, and erudition.

Indian Tales of the Raj

Author: Zareer Masani
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520071278
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Book Description
As rich and varied as India itself, these accounts bring to the reader the Indian perspective on the British Raj. Included are the memories and experiences of more than fifty Indian men and women who worked under the British, made friends with them, and then fought to throw them out. They describe the role of apprentice under the sahibs, the complex racial barriers that divided the rulers from the ruled, the Western education which eventually encouraged rebellion, and the ways in which liberal British political arguments were turned against the Raj by nationalist campaigns to force the British to quit India.

She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen

Author: Katie Hickman
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0349008264
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 445

Book Description
'Sharply observed, snappily written and thoroughly researched, She Merchants provides a fabulous panorama of a largely ignored area of social history. Katie Hickman successfully challenges the stereotype of the snobbish, matron-like memsahib by deploying a riveting gallery of powerful and often eccentric women ranging from stowaways and runaways through courtesans and society beauties to Generals' feisty wives and Viceroys' waspish sisters. It is full of surprises and new material and completely engaging from beginning to end' William Dalrymple The first British women to set foot in India did so in the very early seventeenth century, two and a half centuries before the Raj. Women made their way to India for exactly the same reasons men did - to carve out a better life for themselves. In the early days, India was a place where the slates of 'blotted pedigrees' were wiped clean; bankrupts given a chance to make good; a taste for adventure satisfied - for women. They went and worked as milliners, bakers, dress-makers, actresses, portrait painters, maids, shop-keepers, governesses, teachers, boarding house proprietors, midwives, nurses, missionaries, doctors, geologists, plant-collectors, writers, travellers, and - most surprising of all - traders. As wives, courtesans and she-merchants, these tough adventuring women were every bit as intrepid as their men, the buccaneering sea captains and traders in whose wake they followed; their voyages to India were extraordinarily daring leaps into the unknown. The history of the British in India has cast a long shadow over these women; Memsahibs, once a word of respect, is now more likely to be a byword for snobbery and even racism. And it is true: prejudice of every kind - racial, social, imperial, religious - did cloud many aspects of British involvement in India. But was not invariably the case. In this landmark book, celebrated chronicler, Katie Hickman, uncovers stories, until now hidden from history: here is Charlotte Barry, who in 1783 left London a high-class courtesan and arrived in India as Mrs William Hickey, a married 'lady'; Poll Puff who sold her apple puffs for 'upwards of thirty years, growing grey in the service'; Mrs Hudson who in 1617 was refused as a trader in indigo by the East Indian Company, and instead turned a fine penny in cloth; Julia Inglis, a survivor of the siege of Lucknow; Amelia Horne, who witnessed the death of her entire family during the Cawnpore massacres of 1857; and Flora Annie Steel, novelist and a pioneer in the struggle to bring education to purdah women. For some it was painful exile, but for many it was exhilarating. Through diaries, letters and memoirs (many still in manuscript form), this exciting book reveals the extraordinary life and times of hundreds of women who made their way across the sea and changed history.

Stories for South Asian Supergirls

Author: Raj Kaur Khaira
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241554373
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description
Discover 50 inspirational stories of South Asian women and their INCREDIBLE achievements. Featuring stories of success from award-winning entertainers Jameela Jamil and Mindy Kaling, as well as pioneering business leaders Indra Nooyi, Anjali Sud and Ruchi Sanghvi. South Asian Supergirls also features equally remarkable yet less well known figures, such as the British Muslim spy, Noor Inayat Khan. Perfect for fans of Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, this heartwarming read is the ideal gift for young readers. Each profile has been paired with a delightful illustration from one of ten South Asian artists, this is a book for all ages - treasured by parents and children alike. Praise for South Asian Supergirls: One of the most beautiful and visually stimulating books I've seen for a long time - The Morning Star This call to courage celebrates warrior queens of Bangladeshi, Indian, Nepalese and Pakistani heritage - The Guardian Heartwarmingly full of the power, resilience and ingenuity of South Asian women - Book Trust

Rebels Against the Raj

Author: Ramachandra Guha
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 1101874848
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 496

Book Description
An extraordinary history of resistance and the fight for Indian independence—the little-known story of seven foreigners to India who joined the movement fighting for freedom from British colonial rule. Rebels Against the Raj tells the story of seven people who chose to struggle for a country other than their own: foreigners to India who across the late 19th to late 20th century arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence from British colonial rule. Of the seven, four were British, two American, and one Irish. Four men, three women. Before and after being jailed or deported they did remarkable and pioneering work in a variety of fields: journalism, social reform, education, the emancipation of women, environmentalism. This book tells their stories, each renegade motivated by idealism and genuine sacrifice; each connected to Gandhi, though some as acolytes where others found endless infuriation in his views; each understanding they would likely face prison sentences for their resistance, and likely live and die in India; each one leaving a profound impact on the region in which they worked, their legacies continuing through the institutions they founded and the generations and individuals they inspired. Through these entwined lives, wonderfully told by one of the world’s finest historians, we reach deep insights into relations between India and the West, and India’s story as a country searching for its identity and liberty beyond British colonial rule.

The Fishing Fleet

Author: Anne de Courcy
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 0297863835
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
The adventurous young women who sailed to India during the Raj in search of husbands. From the late 19th century, when the Raj was at its height, many of Britain's best and brightest young men went out to India to work as administrators, soldiers and businessmen. With the advent of steam travel and the opening of the Suez Canal, countless young women, suffering at the lack of eligible men in Britain, followed in their wake. This amorphous band was composed of daughters returning after their English education, girls invited to stay with married sisters or friends, and yet others whose declared or undeclared goal was simply to find a husband. They were known as the Fishing Fleet, and this book is their story, hitherto untold. For these young women, often away from home for the first time, one thing they could be sure of was a rollicking good time. By the early 20th century, a hectic social scene was in place, with dances, parties, amateur theatricals, picnics, tennis tournaments, cinemas and gymkhanas, with perhaps a tiger shoot and a glittering dinner at a raja's palace thrown in. And, with men outnumbering women by roughly four to one, romances were conducted at alarming speed and marriages were frequent. But after the honeymoon, life often changed dramatically: whisked off to a remote outpost with few other Europeans for company, and where constant vigilance was required to guard against disease, they found it a far cry from the social whirlwind of their first arrival. Anne de Courcy's sparkling narrative is enriched by a wealth of first-hand sources - unpublished memoirs, letters and diaries rescued from attics - which bring this forgotten era vividly to life.