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The Chaos of Empire
The British Raj and the Conquest of India
Contributors
By Jon Wilson
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Mar 6, 2018
- Page Count
- 592 pages
- Publisher
- PublicAffairs
- ISBN-13
- 9781541767935
Price
$21.99Price
$28.99 CADFormat
Format:
- Trade Paperback $21.99 $28.99 CAD
- ebook $14.99 $19.99 CAD
Buy from Other Retailers:
The popular image of the British Raj—an era of efficient but officious governors, sycophantic local functionaries, doting amahs, blisteringly hot days and torrid nights—chronicled by Forster and Kipling is glamorous and nostalgic, but entirely fictitious. In this dramatic revisionist history, Jon Wilson upends the carefully sanitized image of unity, order, and success to reveal an empire rooted far more in violence than in virtue, far more in chaos than in control.
Through the lives of administrators, soldiers, and subjects—both British and Indian—The Chaos of Empire traces Britain’s imperial rule from the East India Company’s first transactions in the 1600s to Indian Independence in 1947. The Raj was the most public demonstration of a state’s ability to project power far from home, and its perceived success was used to justify interventions around the world in the years that followed. But the Raj’s institutions—from law courts to railway lines—were designed to protect British power without benefiting the people they ruled. This self-serving and careless governance resulted in an impoverished people and a stifled society, not a glorious Indian empire.
Jon Wilson’s new portrait of a much-mythologized era finally and convincingly proves that the story of benign British triumph was a carefully concocted fiction, here thoroughly and totally debunked.
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"The product of many years of detailed archival research, Wilson’s book is without question the best one-volume history of the Raj currently in print."William Dalrymple, The Guardian
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"A virtuoso takedown of cherished shibboleths of Raj mythology."Financial Times
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"A neat, marvellous and very modern telling that feels as necessary as a bucket of water in the face after a dizzying trip to the bazaar."The Times
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"This is an inspirational book, a challenging source of controversy and an invaluable corrective to the many histories of British India that have scarcely escaped the self-reverential platitudes of imperial rule."Times Literary Supplement
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"A forceful reminder that Britain has its own messy past to come to terms with."The Guardian
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"[The Chaos of Empire] presents, with impressive erudition and substantial flair, a comprehensive picture of the colonial experience of a conquered people."India Today
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"Brilliantly written."Financial Express
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