Book Post 9: ”Inglorious Empire” by Shashi Tharoor
Book Post 9: ”Inglorious Empire” by Shashi Tharoor

Book Post 9: ”Inglorious Empire” by Shashi Tharoor

Book Name : ‘Inglorious Empire’. Alternative title ‘Era of Darkness’

Author : Shashi Tharoor

Genre : Non-Fiction

What is it about? : Its about the British Rule in India and how it was totally detrimental to India. Shashi Tharoor demolishes every possible defense of the British rule in India. All the benefits that some people usually attribute to the British like the Railways, Education, Rule of Law all were designed to serve Britain’s Interests alone.

How I came to read it :  One of my friends suggested the book to me. He had borrowed the book from the local library and after he was done I borrowed it from him.

Did I like it? : Loved it. A very insightful book

Why/views/summary  : I have read a ton of books about the British. But in most of the books which I read they were secondary players. Books like ‘The Last Mughal’, ‘Sahibs who loved India’, ‘The Last Nizam’, ‘Begums, Thugs and Englishmen’, ‘City of Djinns’ had British playing important but secondary role. They gave me a good picture of the British times and of the many of the atrocities they committed but ‘Inglorious Empire’ presents all these facts in a systematic manner. Shashi Tharoor has taken all the common arguments which favor the British Rule and he systematically destroys them with data and contemporary accounts. There are some damning data in the book,for example, take this – ”In 1600, when the East India Company was established, Britain was producing just 1.8 per cent of the world’s GDP, while India was generating some 23 per cent. By 1940, after nearly two centuries of the Raj, Britain accounted for nearly 10 per cent of world GDP, while India had been reduced to a poor ‘third-world’ country, destitute and starving, a global poster child of poverty and famine.”

Why should you read it? :
I believe the book should be read by every Indian. If not the whole book then at least Chapter 4 called ‘Divide et Impera’ is a must read. Every Indian should know the legacy of their past and how the British reduced it to shambles by the time they left India. Also its a good reminder of how and why our forefathers fought for freedom and why the idea of a democratic India was and is such a cherished thing. 
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