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feta_cheese's review against another edition
4.0
Sashi Tharoor has masterfully detailed out the exploits of the British Empire in India and the repercussions from it. He meticulously breaks down available data and quotes from historical figures to make his case.
I found the book a real page turner. The writing is really good, full of witty remarks and good humour. My vocabulary significantly enriched after reading this, although I wish I was on an e-reader to be able to easily look up words.
He tends to repeat his argument quite a few times throughout the book though.
I found the book a real page turner. The writing is really good, full of witty remarks and good humour. My vocabulary significantly enriched after reading this, although I wish I was on an e-reader to be able to easily look up words.
He tends to repeat his argument quite a few times throughout the book though.
rishabsomani's review against another edition
5.0
I am, personally, not a big fan of Shashi Tharoor and his political career but this book shines through with his academic brilliance and encapsulating writing style.
Every Indian is aware of the injustices inflicted upon them by our colonial masters, but Tharoor shows what the British Raj did in such astonishing factual detail that one is left seething with anger. Tharoor shows how systematically and brutally the British fucked us over and the vastness of their fuckery.
The British had left us 72 years ago, but the barriers they've created still haunt us to this day. The Hindu-Muslim divide, the caste politics, and the Victorian-era Indian Penal Code that cause problems today are all givings of this barbarous empire.
I feel that this book should be inculcated in every Indian school curriculum so that every kid revels in our rich pre-colonial heritage and is angered by the madness that ensued after it.
Every Indian is aware of the injustices inflicted upon them by our colonial masters, but Tharoor shows what the British Raj did in such astonishing factual detail that one is left seething with anger. Tharoor shows how systematically and brutally the British fucked us over and the vastness of their fuckery.
The British had left us 72 years ago, but the barriers they've created still haunt us to this day. The Hindu-Muslim divide, the caste politics, and the Victorian-era Indian Penal Code that cause problems today are all givings of this barbarous empire.
I feel that this book should be inculcated in every Indian school curriculum so that every kid revels in our rich pre-colonial heritage and is angered by the madness that ensued after it.
uditnair24's review against another edition
4.0
Insightful reading. Shashi Tharoor categorically rejects the claim that brits did great things for India. On the contrary they ruined India. This is a well researched collection of those instances.
gunjan2024's review against another edition
5.0
One of the bests by Shashi Tharoor as in this one he enlighten the present generation or coming generations about how evil the British Era to India was. There have been many instances in India itself where Indians have been found as to be defenders of British Era, this book was for all such people and people who believe such people that British Era to India had no such fate to do good to India.
All Britishers ever did and introduced in India be it railways, educational institutions, hospitals, trade, and industries, that all was for their own good first. For them Indians were only their subject but not their fellow civilians. They never considered Indians more better than to be their servants or at low level positions than to let Indians achieve what they were capable of. They caused India a great destruction in economy, health, famine, and development.
This book was not just a rant by Shashi Tharoor about British Era. This book is well researched with facts and evidences to supports everything presented in this book.
I always admire writing of Shashi Tharoor and this one is surely one of the books that can make anyone a fan of him.
Brilliant! ❤️
dsoreads's review against another edition
5.0
By far one of the BEST books I’ve read in recent times.
Tharoor is possibly the most significant authors helping Indians resonate, reason and revise perceptions of our own identity.
How I wish I could gift this book to the school-going me that was confused to understand how a few guest-traders could control/rule an entire population or that millions were self-imposing starvation and suffering to themselves to be free from the very same or that the strange case of an uncaring imperialist didn’t let the millions simply die in the name of Satyagraha, etc.
After years of picking books and knowledge here and there, I started wrapping my head around the idea of how it all happened through a web of causes and not simply Satyagraha, etc. but this book renders the best of clarity on the cause and effect in addition to correlations.
Although, the book might sound as though India blames the British for everything, however, there is a fair ground to believe that most roots of India’s messy conflicts both internal and external could possibly route back to the Imperialists. What could have been the imperialist’s strategy to govern and control the “colonies” better, has scarred deep divisions and fissures enough to grow like cancer eating millions of lives even today - across the world’s old colonies.
There are a few books you deeply cherish reading every idea and line with delight and rage, investing all emotions - this was one of them. Thank you, Mr.Tharoor. This is your masterpiece and shall be remembered for as long as we can read.
Tharoor is possibly the most significant authors helping Indians resonate, reason and revise perceptions of our own identity.
How I wish I could gift this book to the school-going me that was confused to understand how a few guest-traders could control/rule an entire population or that millions were self-imposing starvation and suffering to themselves to be free from the very same or that the strange case of an uncaring imperialist didn’t let the millions simply die in the name of Satyagraha, etc.
After years of picking books and knowledge here and there, I started wrapping my head around the idea of how it all happened through a web of causes and not simply Satyagraha, etc. but this book renders the best of clarity on the cause and effect in addition to correlations.
Although, the book might sound as though India blames the British for everything, however, there is a fair ground to believe that most roots of India’s messy conflicts both internal and external could possibly route back to the Imperialists. What could have been the imperialist’s strategy to govern and control the “colonies” better, has scarred deep divisions and fissures enough to grow like cancer eating millions of lives even today - across the world’s old colonies.
There are a few books you deeply cherish reading every idea and line with delight and rage, investing all emotions - this was one of them. Thank you, Mr.Tharoor. This is your masterpiece and shall be remembered for as long as we can read.
vigneswara_prabhu's review against another edition
4.0
An Earlier iteration of the book [b: Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India|34185892|Inglorious Empire What the British Did to India|Shashi Tharoor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490075230l/34185892._SY75_.jpg|53206311] by the same author, the much aptly named Era of Darkness, discusses in depth the consequences of 200 years of British rule in India. An account made up more of negatives and tragedies, and any good which came out of it was merely incidental, and as a result of local zeal.
Over eight chapter Mr. Tharoor break down, in a easy to comprehend narrative, peppered with historical citations, the prevalent argument of the 2010s that, despite the atrocities committed, British Raj ultimately was a boon to the Indian Subcontinent.
Taking into Focus different aspects of this argument, the supposed 'benefits' of the Raj, Tharoor shows how our colonizers had left no stone unturned in their rapacious crusade to subjugate India and her people, and to drain out the very life blood from the nation, in form of food exports, exorbitant taxation and outright looting of goods. At the same time, doing everything in their power to undermine and destabilize the native economy, and keep Indians in a state of servile servility. This was enacted by denying any jobs of significance to Indians in higher strata of the Government.
Then there is the infamous 'Divide and rule' strategy which our oppressors enacted in some form almost from the get go of their reign, which the author christened as 'Divide et Impera', from the similar strategy employed by Philip of Macedonia in Hellenistic times. Also serving to thwart the argument that the Raj gave Indians political unity, from a previously fragmented princely conglomerates. When in fact they did everything in their power to do just the opposite. Their earnest efforts resulting in the political and geographical fracturing of the subcontinent into the eventual three entities India, pakistan, Bangladesh. 1 million dead in communal riots, 14 millions displaced in the world's largest mass migration event.
Even the other 'boons' provided to the oppressed, like the extensive Railway system, was another means by which to drain local resources. The railways might as well have been carrying sands to Egypt with how useless they were in alleviation of the countless famines which occurred under British rule.
Which is another point of contention. If the British did indeed establish the wonder of modern liberal government and parliamentary system in India, with a well functioning administrative service, then why argues Tharoor, were some of the worst famines and loss of life to ever occur in the subcontinent attributed to the Raj. Including the horrendous Bengal famine which resulted in a mortality rates upwards of 3 million.
The Indian government, as corrupt and bureaucratic as it may be criticized to be, did more for alleviation of poverty, public education, health and improvement in standards of life within 70 odd years, than the British in two centuries.
Finally the author makes a hypothetical argument, taking parallels from another eastern culture of 19th- 20th century Japan as reference. In the event that the British takeover of India had not come to pass, it wouldn't have necessarily meant a fragmented India squabbling India. Under a influential leader or dynasty, as has been previously shown, Indian unification was far from a pipe dream.
And like the Meiji Restoration of 1867, should this new unified entity taken steps towards modernization, by training locals and importing modern industries, there is nothing to deny India would too have progressed into a thriving modern nation on par with other world powers at the time.
What generations of British rule did, was to put a hard break on the natural evolution of Indian society, trapping them in some facsimile of a bygone era, making it all the more worse and regressive owing to narrow minded laws and regulations.
Much of Independent India's time and resources were spent in correcting the gashes left due to British rule. Some, like those erupted during the partition, are still raw and pustulating, shadowing the nation's destiny for times to come.
In light of all this, the author argues, any notion of British rule being ultimately beneficial for India would be a laughable prospect. It's sins grave and debilitating; It's good deeds, unintentional and marred in it's sheen.
Over eight chapter Mr. Tharoor break down, in a easy to comprehend narrative, peppered with historical citations, the prevalent argument of the 2010s that, despite the atrocities committed, British Raj ultimately was a boon to the Indian Subcontinent.
Taking into Focus different aspects of this argument, the supposed 'benefits' of the Raj, Tharoor shows how our colonizers had left no stone unturned in their rapacious crusade to subjugate India and her people, and to drain out the very life blood from the nation, in form of food exports, exorbitant taxation and outright looting of goods. At the same time, doing everything in their power to undermine and destabilize the native economy, and keep Indians in a state of servile servility. This was enacted by denying any jobs of significance to Indians in higher strata of the Government.
Then there is the infamous 'Divide and rule' strategy which our oppressors enacted in some form almost from the get go of their reign, which the author christened as 'Divide et Impera', from the similar strategy employed by Philip of Macedonia in Hellenistic times. Also serving to thwart the argument that the Raj gave Indians political unity, from a previously fragmented princely conglomerates. When in fact they did everything in their power to do just the opposite. Their earnest efforts resulting in the political and geographical fracturing of the subcontinent into the eventual three entities India, pakistan, Bangladesh. 1 million dead in communal riots, 14 millions displaced in the world's largest mass migration event.
Even the other 'boons' provided to the oppressed, like the extensive Railway system, was another means by which to drain local resources. The railways might as well have been carrying sands to Egypt with how useless they were in alleviation of the countless famines which occurred under British rule.
Which is another point of contention. If the British did indeed establish the wonder of modern liberal government and parliamentary system in India, with a well functioning administrative service, then why argues Tharoor, were some of the worst famines and loss of life to ever occur in the subcontinent attributed to the Raj. Including the horrendous Bengal famine which resulted in a mortality rates upwards of 3 million.
The Indian government, as corrupt and bureaucratic as it may be criticized to be, did more for alleviation of poverty, public education, health and improvement in standards of life within 70 odd years, than the British in two centuries.
Finally the author makes a hypothetical argument, taking parallels from another eastern culture of 19th- 20th century Japan as reference. In the event that the British takeover of India had not come to pass, it wouldn't have necessarily meant a fragmented India squabbling India. Under a influential leader or dynasty, as has been previously shown, Indian unification was far from a pipe dream.
And like the Meiji Restoration of 1867, should this new unified entity taken steps towards modernization, by training locals and importing modern industries, there is nothing to deny India would too have progressed into a thriving modern nation on par with other world powers at the time.
What generations of British rule did, was to put a hard break on the natural evolution of Indian society, trapping them in some facsimile of a bygone era, making it all the more worse and regressive owing to narrow minded laws and regulations.
Much of Independent India's time and resources were spent in correcting the gashes left due to British rule. Some, like those erupted during the partition, are still raw and pustulating, shadowing the nation's destiny for times to come.
In light of all this, the author argues, any notion of British rule being ultimately beneficial for India would be a laughable prospect. It's sins grave and debilitating; It's good deeds, unintentional and marred in it's sheen.
alertzombie's review against another edition
3.0
I feel Tharoor has given many compelling and damning arguments against the glorification of British imperailism. However, I will have to say that the book felt a bit disjointed and not following a proper structure, which is completely understandable considering how the chapters have been designed. My biggest pet-peeve, nonetheless, for which I have to rate it 3 instead of 4 stars is the blatant bias and hate the author has for Pakistan and it's inception. Maybe I am the biased one considering I am a Pakistani, however I am someone who wholeheartedly calls my country out on the bullshit it does, and I recognise that we are not by far a good country, but even then, whenever Tharoor mentioned Pakistan or Bangladesh, it left a sour taste in my mouth, mostly due to the hypocrisy of him pretending that India and her leaders have a moral highground over their neighbours, which in my opinion, it does not. If India's Hindu extremists behaviour (ignored in this book apart from providing explanations for it) can be blamed on the British adopting a 'divide and rule' policy, so can Pakistan's Muslim extremists' (he's always menioned it whenever he wrote about Pakistan) behaviour. After all, I think we're forgetting the Gujrat riots and how they were condoned by the then CM of Gujrat and current PM of India, Narendra Modi (a known Hindu-extremist). State-sponsered ethnic cleansning indeed.