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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Murder, Colonisation, War
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
At times, statistics heavy. At times, infuriating. I learned a lot that is never taught in the west.
What is intriguing about 'Inglorious Empire' is this: Tharoor takes a valid point that colonialism disenfranchised the subcontinent for two centuries. What is laughable is how he attempts to steer around history's most finest points in a bid to heap the sins of the world at British doors. For all his argument of the 'evil white man', Tharoor forgets that it is the social advances in British society which allows him to travel to and fro from the UK while lambasting it openly. The irony should not be lost on him. His own political party is a British byproduct.
His argument that identity in India pre-British was 'fluid' would make even the most ardent of post-structuralists blush. He subsequently shoots himself in the foot by arguing that caste and regional identity was of more prime importance than religious identity. If so, then why did subcontinental identity become fixated on these latter two elements even forfeiting this alleged 'fluidity' in the process? Why no fluidity there?
On the whole, 'Inglorious Empire' is a blame game in action. For Tharoor, every British advance needs to be dismissed to argue that maybe (operative term being 'maybe') the denizens of the subcontinent could have done better. More wishful thinking than constructed fact. It incorporates local hearsays without any substantial research to uncover the truth; grandiose vocabulary (hallmark of Tharoor's career-get caught out, use big words to survive); and conveniently cowers away from answering why multiple subcontinental Empires joined the British.
His argument that identity in India pre-British was 'fluid' would make even the most ardent of post-structuralists blush. He subsequently shoots himself in the foot by arguing that caste and regional identity was of more prime importance than religious identity. If so, then why did subcontinental identity become fixated on these latter two elements even forfeiting this alleged 'fluidity' in the process? Why no fluidity there?
On the whole, 'Inglorious Empire' is a blame game in action. For Tharoor, every British advance needs to be dismissed to argue that maybe (operative term being 'maybe') the denizens of the subcontinent could have done better. More wishful thinking than constructed fact. It incorporates local hearsays without any substantial research to uncover the truth; grandiose vocabulary (hallmark of Tharoor's career-get caught out, use big words to survive); and conveniently cowers away from answering why multiple subcontinental Empires joined the British.
Fascinating. This is a no-holds-barred indictment of Britain's occupation of India, and it is brutal. Most books you see are written by Westerners, and a lot of them look at the British empire with an apologist's eye. There's none of that here. Shashi Tharoor is an Indian, a long-standing member of India's parliament, and he has some things to say.
This is a well-written and well-researched rebuttal to a lot of the pro-Empire arguments that have come out in the last 20 years (Tharoor calls out Niall Ferguson, in particular). He's a politician, not a historian, so I took some of his claims with a grain of salt (Tharoor insists that there was no Hindu-Muslim conflict prior to the Raj, but I'm a bit skeptical of that), but he provides plenty of notes and several pages of bibliography, so I can check his claims myself. My copy of this book is now riddled with underlines and marginalia, which for me is a good sign of the book's readability, and how engaging it is.
Highly recommend to anyone looking for a short (250 pages) overview of the Raj, with none of the nostalgia that you find in histories written by Niall Ferguson or Lawrence James.
This is a well-written and well-researched rebuttal to a lot of the pro-Empire arguments that have come out in the last 20 years (Tharoor calls out Niall Ferguson, in particular). He's a politician, not a historian, so I took some of his claims with a grain of salt (Tharoor insists that there was no Hindu-Muslim conflict prior to the Raj, but I'm a bit skeptical of that), but he provides plenty of notes and several pages of bibliography, so I can check his claims myself. My copy of this book is now riddled with underlines and marginalia, which for me is a good sign of the book's readability, and how engaging it is.
Highly recommend to anyone looking for a short (250 pages) overview of the Raj, with none of the nostalgia that you find in histories written by Niall Ferguson or Lawrence James.
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
Read for the Read Harder 2022 prompt: Read a history about a period you know little about.
On an abstract level, I of course knew that British rule in India was a horrible thing. But gosh, I didn’t even know the tip of the ice burg.
This book was an overview of the British Raj, and the horrible mistreatment of India and Indians by England. It started as a speech by the author that went viral, and became this book. It was eye opening and horrifying and disgusting. I think that this book should be a must read for everyone, but especially British people, as the author says in the final chapter.
I’m not going to go into detail about the contents of the book. I don’t have words for the atrocities that England caused, knowingly, and often on purpose.
We need to learn from our history, and we need to do better.
On an abstract level, I of course knew that British rule in India was a horrible thing. But gosh, I didn’t even know the tip of the ice burg.
This book was an overview of the British Raj, and the horrible mistreatment of India and Indians by England. It started as a speech by the author that went viral, and became this book. It was eye opening and horrifying and disgusting. I think that this book should be a must read for everyone, but especially British people, as the author says in the final chapter.
I’m not going to go into detail about the contents of the book. I don’t have words for the atrocities that England caused, knowingly, and often on purpose.
We need to learn from our history, and we need to do better.
Great research that forms the basis of impeccable arguments.
challenging
informative
A really well written dissection of the ways in which the British empire exploited the subcontinent for generations. Going through each and every argument that has been made by imperial apologists and expertly debunks them. The forward beautifully states his intentions "I seek nothing from history, except an account of itself."
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Very informative, hit at the heart of topics I cared about. The eloquence of the writing made everything flow even more. Something I would like to reread
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced