Inglorious Empire: What The British Did To India

Product Description

The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller on India's experience of British colonialism by the internationally-acclaimed author & diplomat Shashi Tharoor' Tharoor's impassioned polemic slices straight to the heart of the darkness that drives all empires laying bare the grim & high cost of the British Empire for its former subjects An essential read' Financial Times In the eighteenth century India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's By 1947 after two centuries of British rule it had decreased six-fold The Empire blew rebels from cannon massacred unarmed protesters entrenched institutionalised racism & caused millions to die from starvation British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed but Shashi Tharoor takes demolishes this position demonstrating how every supposed imperial 'gift'
- from the railways to the rule of law
- was designed in Britain's interests alone He goes on to show how Britain's Industrial Revolution was founded on India's deindustrialisation & the destruction of its textile industry In this bold & incisive reassessment of colonialism Tharoor exposes to devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britain's stained Indian legacy