Inglorious Empire: What The British Did To India

In the 18th century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947 after two centuries of British rule, it has decreased six-fold. The Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protestors, 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 demolishes this argument, demonstrating how every supposed imperial 'gift', from 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, and the destruction of its textile industry. This is a bold and incisive reassessment of colonialism which exposes to devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britain's stained Indian legacy. The author is an internationally acclaimed writer and diplomat and his book is persuasive and well founded, not nostalgic, and arose from a contentious Oxford Union debate in 2015 where he proposed the motion that Britain owes reparations to her former colonies. This is a book to keep the home fires burning both in India and Britain in this eloquent repost to traditional texts that celebrate empire.