Inglorious Empire: what the British did to India [Paperback]

In the eighteenth century, Indias share of the world economy was as large as Europes. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die from starvation.

British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes on and demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial giftfrom the railways to the rule of lawwas designed in Britains interests alone. He goes on to show how Britains Industrial Revolution was founded on Indias deindustrialization and the destruction of its textile industry. In this bold and incisive reassessment of colonialism, Tharoor exposes to devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britains stained Indian legacy.

Inglorious Empiretells the real story of the British in India and reveals how Britains rise was built upon its plunder of India.

• Demolishes some of the more persistent myths about Britains supposedly civilizing mission in India
• Tharoor, a Davos Fellow, is a major international politician and authority on India
• Convincingly rebutts Niall Ferguson and other imperial apologists

Inglorious Empireis a bracing, polemical work.
Christopher de Bellaigue,The New York Review of Books

His writing is a delight and he seldom misses his target&Tharoor should be applauded for tackling an impossibly contentious subject&he deserves to be read. Indians are not the only ones who need reminding that empire has a lot to answer for.
Literary Review

Rare indeed is it to come across history that is so readable and so persuasive.
Amitav Ghosh

Inglorious Empireis a timely reminder of the need to start teaching unromanticized colonial histol£9