Those Brits who speak confidently about how Britain's "historical and cultural ties" to India will make it easy to strike a great new trade deal should read Mr Tharoor's book. Essential for a Britain lost in sepia fantasies about its past, Inglorious Empire is history at its clearest and cutting best (Ben Judah) An essential read (Niljana Roy Financial Times)įerocious and astonishing. Forceful, persuasive and blunt, he demolishes Raj nostalgia, laying bare the grim, and high, cost of the British Empire for its former subjects. Tharoor's impassioned polemic slices straight to the heart of the darkness that drives all empires.
It makes very uncomfortable reading for Brits (Matt Ridley The Times) The book is savagely critical of 200 years of the British in India. Indians are not the only ones who need reminding that empire has a lot to answer for. Tharoor should be applauded for tackling an impossibly contentious subject. His writing is a delight and he seldom misses his target. A welcome antidote to the nauseating righteousness and condescension pedalled by Niall Ferguson in his 2003 book Empire ( Irish Times) Inglorious Empire is a timely reminder of the need to start teaching unromanticised colonial history in British schools. charts the destruction of pre-colonial systems of government by the British and their ubiquitous ledgers and rule books. Tharoor convincingly demolishes some of the more persistent myths about Britain's supposedly civilising mission in India. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. In this bold and incisive reassessment of colonialism, Tharoor exposes to devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britain's stained Indian legacy. He goes on to show how Britain's Industrial Revolution was founded on India's deindustrialisation, and the destruction of its textile industry. The Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die from starvation.īritish imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial 'gift' - from the railways to the rule of law - was designed in Britain's interests alone. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. In the eighteenth century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's.
laying bare the grim, and high, cost of the British Empire for its former subjects. 'Tharoor's impassioned polemic slices straight to the heart of the darkness that drives all empires. The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller on India's experience of British colonialism, by the internationally-acclaimed author and diplomat Shashi Tharoor
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