books tagged “British Empire”

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Africa and the Victorians
by Ronald Robinson

ISBN 0333310063 (0-333-31006-3)
Softcover, Palgrave Macmillan

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Book summary:
'...penetrating and profoundly provocative book.' - Asa Briggs [via]
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- Africa and the Victorians: ISBN 0333310063 (0-333-31006-3)
  Softcover, Palgrave Macmillan
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Anna and the King
by Margaret Landon

ISBN 0064408612 (0-06-440861-2)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited

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Book summary:
"Are you the lady who is to teach the royal family?"
She inclined her head slightly. "I am."
"Have you friends in Bangkok?"
"I know no one in Bangkok at all."

When Anna arrives on a crowded dock in Siam in 1862, she is afraid her friends might have been right: A country as "backward" as Siam is no place for a proper young Englishwoman. And when she meets the king, who is unbearably headstrong and arrogant, she is quite positive she has made a huge mistake.
But then Anna begins her post as governess to the royal children (all sixty-seven of them!), and it's not long before they taught her to love the beauty and excitement of this strange new land. Suddenly she has more friends than she could ever hope for. Yet in the kingdom of Siam, there are rules Anna cannot accept. And as her relationship with the king grows, the conflicts between them grow too. If they are to overcome their differences, Anna and the King will have to meet somewhere between East and West&.
[via]
More editions of Anna and the King:
- Anna and the King: ISBN 0064408612 (0-06-440861-2)
  Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
Anna and the King of Siam
by Margaret Landon, Margaret Ayer

ISBN 0060954884 (0-06-095488-4)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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"Anna and the King of Siam" is a wonderful blend of old-fashioned fiction writing and the meticulously researched true story of the young English woman who was the tutor to the children of King Mongkut of Siam during the 1860s. Her most important pupil was the prince who would become Thailand's most progressive king. It was Anna who taught him about Abraham Lincoln and the Western ideals which would later influence his reign and the transformation of Thailand from a feudal state to a modern progressive society. [via]
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Burmese Days
by George Orwell

ISBN 1595404309 (1-59540-430-9)
Softcover, 1st World Library

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Imagine crossing E.M. Forster with Jane Austen. Stir in a bit of socialist doctrine, a sprig of satire, strong Indian curry, and a couple quarts of good English gin and you get something close to the flavor of George Orwell's intensely readable and deftly plotted Burmese Days. In 1930, Kyauktada, Upper Burma, is one of the least auspicious postings in the ailing British Empire--and then the order comes that the European Club, previously for whites only, must elect one token native member. This edict brings out the worst in this woefully enclosed society, not to mention among the natives who would become the One. Orwell mines his own Anglo-Indian background to evoke both the suffocating heat and the stifling pettiness that are the central facts of colonial life: "Mr. MacGregor told his anecdote about Prome, which could be produced in almost any context. And then the conversation veered back to the old, never-palling subject--the insolence of the natives, the supineness of the Government, the dear dead days when the British Raj was the Raj and please give the bearer fifteen lashes. The topic was never let alone for long, partly because of Ellis's obsession. Besides, you could forgive the Europeans a great deal of their bitterness. Living and working among Orientals would try the temper of a saint."
Protagonist James Flory is a timber merchant, whose facial birthmark serves as an outward expression of the ironic and left-leaning habits of mind that make him inwardly different from his coevals. Flory appreciates the local culture, has native allegiances, and detests the racist machinations of his fellow Club members. Alas, he doesn't always possess the moral courage, or the energy, to stand against them. His almost embarrassingly Anglophile friend, Dr. Veraswami, the highest-ranking native official, seems a shoo-in for Club membership, until Machiavellian magistrate U Po Kyin launches a campaign to discredit him that results, ultimately, in the loss not just of reputations but of lives. Whether to endorse Veraswami or to betray him becomes a kind of litmus test of Flory's character.
Against this backdrop of politics and ethics, Orwell throws the shadow of romance. The arrival of the bobbed blonde, marriageable, and resolutely anti-intellectual Elizabeth Lackersteen not only casts Flory as hapless suitor but gives Orwell the chance to show that he's as astute a reporter of nuanced social interactions as he is of political intrigues. In fact, his combination of an astringently populist sensibility, dead-on observations of human behavior, formidable conjuring skills, and no-frills prose make for historical fiction that stands triumphantly outside of time. --Joyce Thompson [via]
More editions of Burmese Days:
- Burmese Days: ISBN 1421808307 (1-4218-0830-7)
  Hardcover, 1st World Library
- Burmese Days: ISBN 1595404309 (1-59540-430-9)
  Softcover, 1st World Library
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Captives: Britain, Empire, and the World, 1600-1850
by Linda Colley

ISBN 0385721463 (0-385-72146-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
In this path-breaking book Linda Colley reappraises the rise of the biggest empire in global history. Excavating the lives of some of the multitudes of Britons held captive in the lands their own rulers sought to conquer, Colley also offers an intimate understanding of the peoples and cultures of the Mediterranean, North America, India, and Afghanistan.

Here are harrowing, sometimes poignant stories by soldiers and sailors and their womenfolk, by traders and con men and by white as well as black slaves. By exploring these forgotten captives and their captors Colley reveals how Britains emerging empire was often tentative and subject to profound insecurities and limitations. She evokes how British empire was experienced by the mass of poor whites who created it. She shows how imperial racism coexisted with cross-cultural collaborations, and how the gulf between Protestantism and Islam, which some have viewed as central to this empire, was often smaller than expected. Brilliantly written and richly illustrated, Captives is an invitation to think again about a piece of history too often viewed in the same old way. It is also a powerful contribution to current debates about the meanings, persistence, and drawbacks of empire. [via]
More editions of Captives: Britain, Empire, and the World, 1600-1850:
- Captives: Britain, Empire, and the World, 1600-1850: ISBN 0385721463 (0-385-72146-3)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
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E.M. Forster: A Passage to India
by Betty Jay

ISBN 184046027X (1-84046-027-X)
Softcover, Palgrave Macmillan

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Book summary:
In this Readers' Guide, Betty Jay considers the establishment of Forster's reputation and the various attempts of critics to decipher the complex codes that are a feature of his novel. Successive chapters focus on debates around Forster's liberal-humanism, with essays from F. R. Leavis, Lionel Trilling and Malcolm Bradbury; on the indeterminacy and ambiguity of the text, with extracts from essays by Gillian Beer, Robert Barratt, Wendy Moffat and Jo-Ann Hoeppner Moran; and on the sexual politics of Forster's work, with writings from Elaine Showalter, Frances L. Restuccia and Eve Dawkins Poll. The Guide concludes with essays from Jeffrey Meyers and Jenny Sharpe, who read A Passage to India in terms of its engagement with British imperialism.
[via]
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- E.M. Forster: A Passage to India: ISBN 184046027X (1-84046-027-X)
  Softcover, Palgrave Macmillan
Empire: The British Imperial Experience from 1765 to the Present
by Denis Judd

ISBN 1842124986 (1-84212-498-6)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power
by Niall Ferguson

ISBN 0465023290 (0-465-02329-0)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group

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Book summary:
Niall Ferguson's compelling tour de force, Empire, was published to coincide with a British TV series. Ferguson, author of The Pity of War and The Cash Nexus, does not so much provide a synoptic survey of the British empire since the 17th century, as an arresting argument about why it arose, and how it fell. Ferguson's emphasis throughout is on the pursuit of economic profit and military might.
Piracy overseas and a taste for sugar and spice at home combined with an unerring ability to vanquish rival European powers, such as the Dutch and French, in the dash for stash and status across the globe. But Ferguson is also alive to the peculiarities of British dominion: the manly and Christian civil service--less than a thousand strong--who ruled India, missionaries such as Livingstone, who explored and mapped as they preached, and the barons of empire--Rhodes, Curzon, and Kitchener--who found in empire an outlet for their homoeroticism.
The book is brilliant and persuasive on trade and buccaneering before 1750, on India, on the late Victorian imperial mentalité, and on the two world wars, but less convincing on the empire of white settlement, and strangely silent on the most difficult colony of all, Ireland. In the end, Ferguson's penchant for polemic gets the upper hand--the book closes with a controversial balance sheet of the gains and losses of the British imperial experience--but he provides a riveting read nonetheless. --Miles Taylor [via]
More editions of Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power:
- Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power: ISBN 0465023282 (0-465-02328-2)
  Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
- Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power: ISBN 0465023290 (0-465-02329-0)
  Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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English Passengers
by Matthew Kneale

ISBN 038549744X (0-385-49744-X)
Softcover, Anchor Books

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In 1857 when captain illiam quillian kewley and his band of rum smugglers from the isle of man have most of their contraband confiscated by british customs, they are forced to put their ship up for charter. The only takers are two eccentric englishmen who want to embark for the other side of the globe. The reverend geoffrey wilson believes the garden of eden was on the island of tasmania. His traveling partner, dr. Thomas potter, unbeknownst to wilson, is developing a sinister thesis about the races of men. Meanwhile, an aboriginal in tasmania named peevay recounts his people's struggles against the invading british, a story that begins in 1824, moves into the present with approach of the english passengers in 1857, and extends into the future in 1870. These characters and many others come together in a storm of voices that vividly bring a past age to life [via]
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- English Passengers: ISBN 038549744X (0-385-49744-X)
  Softcover, Anchor Books
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Farewell the Trumpets: An Imperial Retreat
by James Morris

ISBN 0156302861 (0-15-630286-1)
Softcover, Harvest Books

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Book summary:
This concluding volume brings readers up to the death of Winston Churchill in 1965. "Morris has written an unorthodox masterpiece...[a] book filled with superb studies of battles, ceremonies, landscapes, confrontations and, above all, characters" (New York Times Book Review). Index. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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Flashman: From the Flashman Papers, 1839-1842
by George MacDonald Fraser

ISBN 0452259614 (0-452-25961-4)
Softcover, New Amer Library

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Book summary:
Paperback [via]
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George Orwell Complete & Unabridged

ISBN 0905712048 (0-905712-04-8)
Hardcover, Brill Academic Pub

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- George Orwell Complete & Unabridged: ISBN 0905712048 (0-905712-04-8)
  Hardcover, Brill Academic Pub
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The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia
by Peter Hopkirk

ISBN 1568360223 (1-56836-022-3)
Softcover, Kodansha Amer Inc

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In a phrase coined by Captain Arthur Connolly of the East India Company before he was beheaded in Bokhara for spying in 1842, a "Great Game" was played between Tsarist Russia and Victorian England for supremacy in Central Asia. At stake was the security of India, key to the wealth of the British Empire. When play began early in the 19th century, the frontiers of the two imperial powers lay two thousand miles apart, across vast deserts and almost impassable mountain ranges; by the end, only 20 miles separated the two rivals.
Peter Hopkirk, a former reporter for The Times of London with wide experience of the region, tells an extraordinary story of ambition, intrigue, and military adventure. His sensational narrative moves at breakneck pace, yet even as he paints his colorful characters--tribal chieftains, generals, spies, Queen Victoria herself--he skillfully provides a clear overview of the geographical and diplomatic framework. The Great Game was Russia's version of America's "Manifest Destiny" to dominate a continent, and Hopkirk is careful to explain Russian viewpoints as fully as those of the British. The story ends with the fall of Tsarist Russia in 1917, but the demise of the Soviet Empire (hastened by a decade of bloody fighting in Afghanistan) gives it new relevance, as world peace and stability are again threatened by tensions in this volatile region of great mineral wealth and strategic significance. --John Stevenson [via]
More editions of The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia:
- The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia: ISBN 4770017030 (4-7700-1703-0)
  Hardcover, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Limited
- The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia: ISBN 1568360223 (1-56836-022-3)
  Softcover, Kodansha Amer Inc
The Great Mutiny: India 1857
by Christopher Hibbert

ISBN 0670349836 (0-670-34983-6)
Hardcover, Viking Press

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More editions of The Great Mutiny: India 1857:
- The Great Mutiny, India 1857: ISBN 0713910542 (0-7139-1054-2)
  Hardcover, Allen Lane
- The Great Mutiny: India 1857: ISBN 0670349836 (0-670-34983-6)
  Hardcover, Viking Press
Heaven's Command: An Imperial Progress
by Jan Morris

ISBN 0156027747 (0-15-602774-7)
Softcover, Harvest Books

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Book summary:
The opening volume of Morriss Pax Britannica Trilogy, this richly detailed work traces the rise of the British Empire, from the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne in 1837 to the celebration of her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Index. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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Kim
by Rudyard Kipling

ISBN 1404368361 (1-4043-6836-1)
Softcover, IndyPublish.com

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1901. Kipling, English short-story writer, novelist and poet, who celebrated the heroism of British colonial soldiers in India and Burma, was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. Kim is his picaresque novel of India and is considered to be a masterpiece. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. [via]
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Kim
by Maire Fhlathuin, Marie Ni Fhlathuin

ISBN 1551115212 (1-55111-521-2)
Softcover, Broadview Pr

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One of the particular pleasures of reading Kim is the full range of emotion, knowledge, and experience that Rudyard Kipling gives his complex hero. Kim O'Hara, the orphaned son of an Irish soldier stationed in India, is neither innocent nor victimized. Raised by an opium-addicted half-caste woman since his equally dissolute father's death, the boy has grown up in the streets of Lahore:
Though he was burned black as any native; though he spoke the vernacular by preference, and his mother-tongue in a clipped uncertain sing-song; though he consorted on terms of perfect equality with the small boys of the bazar; Kim was white--a poor white of the very poorest.
From his father and the woman who raised him, Kim has come to believe that a great destiny awaits him. The details, however, are a bit fuzzy, consisting as they do of the woman's addled prophecies of "'a great Red Bull on a green field, and the Colonel riding on his tall horse, yes, and'--dropping into English--'nine hundred devils.'"
In the meantime, Kim amuses himself with intrigues, executing "commissions by night on the crowded housetops for sleek and shiny young men of fashion." His peculiar heritage as a white child gone native, combined with his "love of the game for its own sake," makes him uniquely suited for a bigger game. And when, at last, the long-awaited colonel comes along, Kim is recruited as a spy in Britain's struggle to maintain its colonial grip on India. Kipling was, first and foremost, a man of his time; born and raised in India in the 19th century, he was a fervid supporter of the Raj. Nevertheless, his portrait of India and its people is remarkably sympathetic. Yes, there is the stereotypical Westernized Indian Babu Huree Chander with his atrocious English, but there is also Kim's friend and mentor, the Afghani horse trader Mahub Ali, and the gentle Tibetan lama with whom Kim travels along the Grand Trunk Road. The humanity of his characters consistently belies Kipling's private prejudices, and raises Kim above the mere ripping good yarn to the level of a timeless classic. --Alix Wilber [via]
More editions of Kim:
- Kim: ISBN 1551115212 (1-55111-521-2)
  Softcover, Broadview Pr
Kim and Her Crazy Ideas
by Rudyard Kipling

ISBN 0385073615 (0-385-07361-5)
Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books

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- Kim and Her Crazy Ideas: ISBN 0385073615 (0-385-07361-5)
  Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books
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The Lion's Share: A Short History of British Imperialism, 1850-1983
by Bernard Porter

ISBN 0582493870 (0-582-49387-0)
Softcover, Longman Group United Kingdom

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Book summary:
history of Brirish Imperialism from 180-1983 [via]
More editions of The Lion's Share: A Short History of British Imperialism, 1850-1983:
- The Lion's Share: A Short History of British Imperialism, 1850-1983: ISBN 0582493870 (0-582-49387-0)
  Softcover, Longman Group United Kingdom
The Lion's Share: A Short History of British Imperialism, 1850-1995
by Bernard Porter

ISBN 0582089433 (0-582-08943-3)
Softcover, Longman Pub Group

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- The Lion's Share : A Short History of British Imperialism, 1850-1995: ISBN 0582292948 (0-582-29294-8)
  Hardcover, Longman Publishing Group
- The Lion's Share: A Short History of British Imperialism, 1850-1995: ISBN 0582089433 (0-582-08943-3)
  Softcover, Longman Pub Group
The Lion's Share: A Short History Of British Imperialism, 1850-2004
by Bernard Porter

ISBN 0582772524 (0-582-77252-4)
Softcover, Longman Pub Group

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- The Lion's Share: A Short History Of British Imperialism, 1850-2004: ISBN 0582772524 (0-582-77252-4)
  Softcover, Longman Pub Group
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The Nineteenth Century
by Andrew Porter, Alaine Low

ISBN 0198205651 (0-19-820565-1)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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Book summary:
Volume III covers the long watershed of the nineteenth century, from the American independence of the 1780s to the eve of world war in 1914. This period saw Britain's greatest expansion as an empire-builder and a dominant world power.

We begin with several thematic chapters--some are on Britain while others consider the empire's periphery--exploring the key dynamics of British expansion that made imperial influence possible and imperial rule prevalent. The volume also studies the economic, cultural, and institutional frameworks that shaped Britain's overseas empire. Focus then shifts to the principal areas of imperial activity overseas, including both white-settler and tropical colonies, and the question of how British interests and imperial rule shaped the political, social, and economic histories of individual regions. The themes include economics, institutions, defense, technology, imperial and colonial cultures, science, and exploration. The volume examines not only the formal empire, stretching from Australasia and the West Indies to India and the African colonies, but also China and Latin America, which were the central components of Britain's "informal" empire.

About the Series:

The Oxford History of the British Empire is a major new assessment of the Empire in the light of recent scholarship and the progressive opening of historical records. It deals with the interaction of British and non-western societies from the Elizabethan era to the late twentieth century, provides a balanced treatment of the ruled as well as the rulers, and takes into account the significance of the Empire for the peoples of the British Isles. All five of the volumes in this series fully explore economic and social as well as political trends. [via]
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- The Nineteenth Century: ISBN 0198205651 (0-19-820565-1)
  Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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Outposts
by Simon Winchester

ISBN 0340337729 (0-340-33772-9)
Hardcover, Trafalgar Square

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This is the reissue of a Simon Winchester classic. In 1985 Simon Winchester, struck by a sudden need to discover exactly what was left of the British Empire travelled 100,000 miles back and forth from Antarctica to the Caribbean to visit the far-flung islands that are all that remain of what once made Britain great. His adventures in these distant and forgotten ends of the earth make compelling and often funny reading. With a new introduction and additional material in many of the chapters, this revised edition tells us what has happened while the author's been away. [via]
More editions of Outposts:
- Outposts: ISBN 0340337729 (0-340-33772-9)
  Hardcover, Trafalgar Square
Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire
by Simon Winchester

ISBN 0060598611 (0-06-059861-1)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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- Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire: ISBN 0060598611 (0-06-059861-1)
  Softcover, Harpercollins
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The Oxford History of the British Empire: The 19th Century
by William Roger Louis, Andrew Porter, Alaine Low

ISBN 0199246785 (0-19-924678-5)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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Book summary:
Volume III covers the long watershed of the nineteenth century, from the American independence of the 1780s to the eve of world war in 1914. This period saw Britain's greatest expansion as an empire-builder and a dominant world power.

We begin with several thematic chapters--some are on Britain while others consider the empire's periphery--exploring the key dynamics of British expansion that made imperial influence possible and imperial rule prevalent. The volume also studies the economic, cultural, and institutional frameworks that shaped Britain's overseas empire. Focus then shifts to the principal areas of imperial activity overseas, including both white-settler and tropical colonies, and the question of how British interests and imperial rule shaped the political, social, and economic histories of individual regions. The themes include economics, institutions, defense, technology, imperial and colonial cultures, science, and exploration. The volume examines not only the formal empire, stretching from Australasia and the West Indies to India and the African colonies, but also China and Latin America, which were the central components of Britain's "informal" empire.

About the Series:

The Oxford History of the British Empire is a major new assessment of the Empire in the light of recent scholarship and the progressive opening of historical records. It deals with the interaction of British and non-western societies from the Elizabethan era to the late twentieth century, provides a balanced treatment of the ruled as well as the rulers, and takes into account the significance of the Empire for the peoples of the British Isles. All five of the volumes in this series fully explore economic and social as well as political trends. [via]
More editions of The Oxford History of the British Empire: The 19th Century:
- The Oxford History of the British Empire: The 19th Century: ISBN 0199246785 (0-19-924678-5)
  Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Eighteenth Century
by P. J. Marshall, Alaine Low

ISBN 0199246777 (0-19-924677-7)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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- The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Eighteenth Century: ISBN 0199246777 (0-19-924677-7)
  Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Origins of Empire British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the Seventeenth Century
by Alaine Low, Nicholas P. Canny, William Roger Louis, Marshall. P. J.

ISBN 0198205627 (0-19-820562-7)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr on Demand

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Book summary:
Volume I of the Oxford History of the British Empire explores the origins of empire. It shows how and why England, and later Britain, became involved with transoceanic navigation, trade, and settlement during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The chapters, by leading historians, both illustrate the interconnections between developments in Europe and overseas and offer specialist studies on every part of the world that was substantially affected by British colonial activity. As late as 1630, involvement with regions beyond the traditional confines of Europe was still tentative; by 1690 it had [via]
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- The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Origins of Empire British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the Seventeenth Century: ISBN 0198205627 (0-19-820562-7)
  Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr on Demand
The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Origins of Empire British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the Seventeenth Century
by Nicholas Canny, Alaine Low

ISBN 0199246769 (0-19-924676-9)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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- The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Origins of Empire British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the Seventeenth Century: ISBN 0199246769 (0-19-924676-9)
  Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
The Oxford History of the British Empire Vol. 2 : The Eighteenth Century
by P. J. Marshall, Alaine Low

ISBN 0198205635 (0-19-820563-5)
Hardcover, Oxford University Press

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- The Oxford History of the British Empire Vol. 2 : The Eighteenth Century: ISBN 0198205635 (0-19-820563-5)
  Hardcover, Oxford University Press
The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volumes I-V
by William Louis

ISBN 0199242844 (0-19-924284-4)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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- The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volumes I-V: ISBN 0199242844 (0-19-924284-4)
  Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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A Passage to India: Library Edition
by E. M. Forster

ISBN 0156711427 (0-15-671142-7)
Softcover, Harvest Books

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Book summary:
What really happened in the Marabar caves? This is the mystery at the heart of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, A Passage to India, the puzzle that sets in motion events highlighting an even larger question: Can an Englishman and an Indian be friends?
"It is impossible here," an Indian character tells his friend, Dr. Aziz, early in the novel.
"They come out intending to be gentlemen, and are told it will not do.... Why, I remember when Turton came out first. It was in another part of the Province. You fellows will not believe me, but I have driven with Turton in his carriage--Turton! Oh yes, we were once quite intimate. He has shown me his stamp collection.
"He would expect you to steal it now. Turton! But red-nosed boy will be far worse than Turton!
"I do not think so. They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give any Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike."
Written while England was still firmly in control of India, Forster's novel follows the fortunes of three English newcomers to India--Miss Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Cyril Fielding--and the Indian, Dr. Aziz, with whom they cross destinies. The idea of true friendship between the races was a radical one in Forster's time, and he makes it abundantly clear that it was not one that either side welcomed. If Aziz's friend, Hamidullah, believed it impossible, the British representatives of the Raj were equally discouraging.
"Why, the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die," said Mrs. Callendar.
"How if he went to heaven?" asked Mrs. Moore, with a gentle but crooked smile.
"He can go where he likes as long as he doesn't come near me. They give me the creeps."
Despite their countrymen's disapproval, Miss Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Mr. Fielding are all eager to meet Indians, and in Dr. Aziz they find a perfect companion: educated, westernized, and open-minded. Slowly, the friendships ripen, especially between Aziz and Fielding. Having created the possibility of esteem based on trust and mutual affection, Forster then subjects it to the crucible of racial hatred: during a visit to the famed Marabar caves, Miss Quested accuses Dr. Aziz of sexually assaulting her, then later recants during the frenzied trial that follows. Under such circumstances, affection proves to be a very fragile commodity indeed.
Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India limns a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst, and is remarkable for the complexity of its characters. Here the personal becomes the political and in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," Forster foreshadows the eventual end of the Raj. --Alix Wilber [via]
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Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire
by Jan Morris

ISBN 0156028018 (0-15-602801-8)
Softcover, Harvest Books

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Book summary:
This centerpiece of the trilogy captures the British at the height of their vigor and self-satisfaction, imposing their traditions and tastes, their idealists and rascals, on diverse peoples of the world. Index. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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The Piano Tuner
by Daniel Mason

ISBN 1400030382 (1-4000-3038-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
Daniel Mason's debut novel, The Piano Tuner, is the mesmerizing story of Edgar Drake, commissioned by the British War Office in 1886 to travel to hostile Burma to repair a rare Erard grand piano vital to the Crown's strategic interests. Eccentric Surgeon-Major Anthony Carroll has brokered peace with local warlords primarily through music, a free medical clinic, and the "powers" of common scientific instruments, much to the dismay of warmongering officers suspect of such unorthodox methods. Drake is an introspective, well-mannered soul who, once there, falls in love with Burma and stays long past the piano-fixing to aid Carroll's political agenda. Drake's arduous journey to reach the outpost, however, takes far too long (nearly half the book) and the plotting is rather heavy-handed at times (one night, Drake learns of a mysterious "Man with One Story" who rarely speaks, and the very next morning the Man tells all to Drake). The story is ambitious, the language florid and sure to please, but the dialogue and melodrama are sometimes tedious. While out on the town with Carroll's love interest, Khin Myo (who enchants Drake), Mason offers the townspersons' view of Drake:
It is only natural that a guest be treated with hospitality, the quiet man who has come to mend the singing elephant is shy, and walks with the posture of one who is unsure of the world, we too would keep him company to make him feel welcome, but we do not speak English.... They say he is one of the kind of men who has dreams, but tells no one.
Drake's complexity is thin; perhaps the beauty of Burma takes over any real need for introspection. Despite these quibbles, The Piano Tuner is a memorable achievement. --Michael Ferch [via]
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- The Piano Tuner: ISBN 1400030382 (1-4000-3038-2)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
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Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India
by Lawrence James

ISBN 0312263821 (0-312-26382-1)
Softcover, St Martins Pr

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Book summary:
This is the magnificently recounted story of one of the wonders of the modern world. In less than one hundred years, the British made themselves masters of India. They ruled it for another hundred, departing in 1947, leaving behind the independent states of India and Pakistan. Both nations owed much to Britain: British rule taught Indians to see themselves as Indians, and its benefits included railways, roads, canals, schools, universities, hospitals, law, and a universal language. There were also habits of mind and government that where derived from British custom.
None of this however, was planned. A series of emergencies in the eighteenth century transformed the East India Company into the most formidable war machine in Asia, and conquest gathered its own momentum. Fortunes were made, but the conscience of Britain was troubled by the despotism that was being created in its name. The result was a government that balanced firmness with benevolence, and had as its goal the advancement of India. There was resistance, both to the conquerors and, in the Indian mutiny, to the Raj they had made. This is a story of wars won against the odds and astonishing heroism, but it is also a tale of how, for many reasons millions of Indians collaborated with their new rulers and made possible the government of so many by so few. Raj contains much that is new, hidden, and controversial on areas as varied as the Mutiny, the Great Game, and the taxing of India.
The Raj, outwardly so monolithic and magnificent, was always precarious. Its masters knew that its survival ultimately depended on the goodwill of Indians, which was why pressure for self-government was met with a mixture of compromise and sternness. The twists and turns of the struggle for independence are told with a wealth of fresh material. Lawrence James galvanizes a subject already rich in incident and character: the India of the Raj was that of Clive, the Marquess Wellesley, Havelock, Kipling, Curzon, and Gandhi and a host of lesser known but vivid men and women. Raj probes their world and how they reacted to it. It will also provoke debate, using recently released official and private papers--to shed new light, flattering and unflattering, on Mountbatten and the other central and tragic events of 1946-47 that ended what had been simultaneously an exercise in benign autocracy and an experiment in altruism. [via]
More editions of Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India:
- Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India: ISBN 031219322X (0-312-19322-X)
  Hardcover, St Martins Pr
- Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India: ISBN 0312263821 (0-312-26382-1)
  Softcover, St Martins Pr
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The Rise and Fall of the British Empire
by Lawrence James

ISBN 031216985X (0-312-16985-X)
Softcover, St Martins Pr

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Book summary:
Spanning four centuries and six continents, James' masterpiece examines the imperial experience and its legacy with tremendous insight and finesse. His original work has now been abridged and illustrated in full color throughout with over 400 meticulously researched photographs, paintings, maps and portraits to create a comprehensive and visually stunning portrait of the era.

Great Britain's geopolitical role has undergone many radical changes over the last four centuries. Once a maritime superpower and ruler of half the world, Britain now occupies an isolated position as an economically fragile island often at odds with her European neighbors. Spanning the years from 1600 to the present day, this critically acclaimed book combines detailed scholarship with readable popular history.
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The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912
by Thomas Pakenham

ISBN 0394515765 (0-394-51576-5)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group

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Book summary:
In 1880 the continent of Africa was largely unexplored by Europeans. Less than thirty years later, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained unconquered by them. The rest - 10 million square miles with 110 million bewildered new subjects - had been carved up by five European powers (and one extraordinary individual) in the name of Commerce, Christianity, 'Civilization' and Conquest. The Scramble for Africa is the first full-scale study of that extraordinary episode in history. [via]
More editions of The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912:
- The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912: ISBN 0394515765 (0-394-51576-5)
  Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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The Siege of Krishnapur
by J.G. Farrell

ISBN 159017092X (1-59017-092-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
"The first sign of trouble at Krishnapur came with a mysterious distribution of chapatis, made of coarse flour and about the size and thickness of a biscuit; towards the end of February 1857, they swept the countryside like an epidemic."
Students of history will recognize 1857 as the year of the Sepoy rebellion in India--an uprising of native soldiers against the British, brought on by Hindu and Muslim recruits' belief that the rifle cartridges they were provided had been greased with pig or cow fat. This seminal event in Anglo-Indian relations provides the backdrop for J.G. Farrell's Booker Prize-winning exploration of race, culture, and class, The Siege of Krishnapur.
Like the mysteriously appearing chapatis, life in British India seems, on the surface, innocuous enough. Farrell introduces us gradually to a large cast of characters as he paints a vivid portrait of the Victorians' daily routines that are accompanied by heat, boredom, class consciousness, and the pursuit of genteel pastimes intended for cooler climates. Even the siege begins slowly, with disquieting news of massacres in cities far away. When Krishnapur itself is finally attacked, the Europeans withdraw inside the grounds of the Residency where very soon conditions begin to deteriorate: food and water run out, disease is rampant, people begin to go a little mad. Soon the very proper British are reduced to eating insects and consorting across class lines. Farrell's descriptions of life inside the Residency are simultaneously horrifying and blackly humorous. The siege, for example, is conducted under the avid eyes of the local populace, who clearly anticipate an enjoyable massacre and thus arrive every morning laden with picnic lunches (plainly visible to the starving Europeans). By turns witty and compassionate, The Siege of Krishnapur comprises the best of all fictional worlds: unforgettable characters, an epic adventure, and at its heart a cultural clash for the ages. Quite simply, this is a splendid novel. --Alix Wilber [via]
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The Singapore Grip
by James G. Farrell, Derek Mahon

ISBN 1590171365 (1-59017-136-5)
Softcover, New York Review of Books

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More editions of The Singapore Grip:
- The Singapore Grip: ISBN 0394504836 (0-394-50483-6)
  Hardcover, Knopf
- The Singapore Grip: ISBN 1590171365 (1-59017-136-5)
  Softcover, New York Review of Books
The Washing of the Spears: The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879
by Donald R. Morris

ISBN 0671628224 (0-671-62822-4)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster

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More editions of The Washing of the Spears: The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879:
- The Washing of the Spears: The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879: ISBN 0671628224 (0-671-62822-4)
  Softcover, Simon & Schuster

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El Afinador De Pianos / The Piano Tuner
by Daniel Mason

ISBN 8478885749 (84-7888-574-9)
Softcover, Oceano De Mexico

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More editions of El Afinador De Pianos / The Piano Tuner:
- El Afinador De Pianos / The Piano Tuner: ISBN 8478885749 (84-7888-574-9)
  Softcover, Oceano De Mexico

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