A Kingdom Divided Empire of the Moghul [Paperback]

Already an international bestseller,A Kingdom Dividedcontinues the epic story of the Moghuls, one of the most magnificent and violent dynasties in world history.

India, 1530. Humayun, the newly crowned second Moghul emperor, is a fortunate man. His father has left him wealth, glory, and an empire that stretches a thousand miles south of the Khyber Pass. But, unbeknownst to him, his half-brothers are plotting against him. They doubt that he has the strength, the will, the brutality needed to command the Moghul armies and lead them to still-greater glories. Soon Humayun will be locked in a terrible battle: not only for his crown, not only for his life, but for the existence of the very empire itself.

ALEX RUTHERFORD is the pen name for Diana and Michael Preston, whose nonfiction has been awarded theLos Angeles TimesScience and Technology Prize and been praised worldwide. They are also authors ofRaiders From The North,the first book in the Empire of the Moghul series. They live in London.

1. Soon after the establishment of the Moghul Empire, in the Europe of the day 'Moghul' became a synonym for immense wealth. In the 1920s it was applied to the powerful, opulent film magnates of Hollywood and also to major industrialists. If we know the name 'Moghul' so well, why don't most of us know much about the history behind it? Who were the Moghuls and why did they matter?

2. What makes Humayun persist in his quest to recover his empire? How much is down to:

a. a wish to live up to the expectations of his father Babur, the first Moghul emperor?

b. his own character?

c. a sense of destiny?

3. What effect does telling the story through a single point of view - Humayun's - have? How might our perceptions be altered if we had multiple points of view?

4. Humayun believed in astrology and in messages from the stars as well as being a student of astronomy. How did these interests affel#ð