An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India Hardcover – 27 Oct. 2016

An excellent read. A more refreshing, unbiased, factual and well evidenced portrayal of the atrocities carried out the British. These are the same people who like to show good moral standing and preach democratic values where they actually practised brutal and inhumane deeds. The book makes great use of language and is one of great pieces of literature I have read in a while.

Insightful and thought provoking. The author wonderfully narrates his views on both sides of the argument and sets up for an interesting read.

This is a book that should be a compulsory text book for all history lessons in schools here so that children will know and understand the dark deeds as well that were perpetrated on the countries of the Commonwealth and not only the glorious victories of GREAT BRITAIN's EMPIRE and of Britannia ruling the waves!

Very educational

Read it and then gave a gift to my family. Worth a Read. Adds a new perspective to the History we all know was written by victors

Read this book in India,it's the exact same book as " Inglorious Empire" I did feel quite frustrated and angry, though I'm a Brit but with Indian ancestory. As this book explains the negative impact of what the British did in India, I think it's rather apt as there are a plethora of books about the great achievements of the colonialist. This book rather tips the apple cart and will make you question why in UK we are not taught this. Shashi's writing is somewhat dull and repetitive at times.

Important History, Heritages to many Hindus & others in their understanding of atrocities, Treacheries that their Ancestors once faced and by all means none of their descendants should face same atrocities

Only part way through the book, and although extremely informative, the writing style and content does seem to bounce around quite a bit making it difficult to become totally engrossed.

"We now know that the British Empire was essentially a Hitlerian project on a grand scale, involving military conquest and dictatorship, extermination and genocide, martial law and "special courts", slavery and forced labour, and, of course, concentration camps and the transoceanic migration of peoples. Whatever way we now look at Empire, this vision must remain dominant." Seite 278 zitiert nach Richard Gott

Libro letto e riletto almeno una dozzina di volte, offre una visione spesso trascurata dell’ era imperiale inglese.Consigliatissimo per tutti gli appassionati.

This book, as the author informs us in the Preface, began with a speech. A very famous speech, in fact - Dr Shashi Tharoor's Oxford Union debate of 2015, one of his most widely shared videos in recent years, in which he argues that Britain owes reparations to India.This book is a detailed presentation of the ideas and cogent arguments put forth by Dr Tharoor in the debate, including topics like the looting of India by the East India Company, the "divide and rule" policy and counter-arguments to those arguing in favour of the empire.The author digs up little-known facts to buttress his case, for example -"A rare Cambridge-educated Indian judge appointed on the bench of the Allahabad High Court in 1887, Justice Syed Mahmud, suffered daily discrimination and prejudice, especially from Chief Justice Sir John Edge, who Mahmud felt treated him like a conquered subject rather than a judicial equal. As a young man freshly returned from England enthusiastic about Empire, Mahmud had dreamt of a day when 'the English people are known to us more as friends and fellow subjects, than as rulers and foreign conquerers'. That was not to be... Mahmud... resigned in 1892, unable to reconcile his faith in British law with his exclusion from the high table at the institutions administering it, turned to drink and depression, and died a broken man at the age of just fifty-three.""The British left a society with 16% literacy, a life expectancy of 27, practically no domestic industry and over 90% living below what today we would call the poverty line. Today the literacy rate is up at 72%, average life expectancy is nearing the Biblical three score and ten, and 280 million people have been pulled out of poverty in the twenty first century."Much of the book is written with the author's characteristic wit, for instance -"And as for aid, British aid amounts to less than 0.02 per cent of India's GDP, and somewhat less than the Government of India spends on fertilizer subsidies - an appropriate metaphor, perhaps, for the aid argument.""This was all part of the policy of divide and rule: no one in any responsible position in Britain as late as 1940 had any serious intention whatsoever of relinquishing the Empire or surrendering the jewel in His Majesty's Crown to a rabble of nationalist Indians clad in homespun. But the devastation of World War II meant that only one half of the phrase could survive: bled, bombed and battered for six years, Britain could divide but it could no longer rule."On the whole, a great book and an important contribution to the growing literature about the British Raj. The only shortcoming I could find is poor proofreading, for example, "restrained" is mis-spelt as "retrained" on page 101. A more glaring example of the printer's devil is on page 126, which tells us that William Jones founded the Asiatic Society in Calcutta in 1797. In fact, Sir William Jones had died in 1794; but he had become the founder president of the Asiatic Society much earlier, in 1784.

Amazing. Shashi has provided the information which was hidden from us Indians. A very detailed , authenticated review of what the west has been doing for centuries. India definitely needs reparations, as well as apology by the queen herself .

The Bristish Empire has killed more people than Hitler could ever hope to do. This book gives a glimpse into the evil that is the Bank of England, and The British Royal Family