This is an excellent book on how the men of the Indian Civil Service worked and lived from Chota hazri to sundown; how a mere…
View More Excellent history – The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj
Tag: History of India
A wonderful book – Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire
It is appropriate that I finished reading this book at the stroke of midnight 14 August 2007. This first book by the author is a…
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Untouchability — The Doctor and the Saint: Caste, Race, and Annihilation of Caste
This book was first published as an introduction by Arundhati Roy for an annotated edition of Ambedkar’s pamphlet Annihilation of Caste in 2014. It is…
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Social history – The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience
This 2018 book does not focus on the politics of the British Raj. Neither does it focus on famous politicians. Instead, the spotlight is on…
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Unsatisfying read – Splendours of the Subcontinent: A Prince’s Tour of India, 1875-6
This book merits 4 stars only as it could have been more comprehensive to do justice to the unprecedented 4-month tour of the Indian subcontinent…
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Introductory book – Shakespeare’s Restless World: An Unexpected History in Twenty Objects
The title of this book promises much. But this book touches the surface only. It is an introductory book on aspects of Shakespeare and the…
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Thoroughly researched – Gandhi 1914-1948: The Years That Changed the World
A highly readable and brisk biography of 1000 pages on The Mahatma from his return to India in 1915 to his assassination in 1948 .…
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Pictorial biography – The Nehrus: Personal Histories
This is a gem of a book for readers interested in a pictorial history of the Nehru families. The family photos are many and beautifully…
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An Infectious read – Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi
I first read this biography in 2006. Rereading it now that her granddaughter Priyanka Gandhi has entered politics it is still the best biography on…
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Riverting excerpts of an Inquiry – The Amritsar Massacre,1919: General Dyer in the Punjab
As 2019 is the centenary of the Amritsar Massacre , I reread this book which I first read from 25 to 26 June 2006. Both…
View More Riverting excerpts of an Inquiry – The Amritsar Massacre,1919: General Dyer in the Punjab