The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj

Gilmour, David

ISBN 10: 0374530807 / ISBN 13: 9780374530808

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007

About this Item

Seller Inventory # E-9780374530808-2-2

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374530807
• ISBN 13: 9780374530808
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Very good

About this title

Synopsis

"[A] lavishly enjoyable book." ―Tunku Varadarajan, The Wall Street Journal

Between 1837 and 1901, fewer than one thousand Britons at any one time managed an empire of 300 million people spread over the vast area that now includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Burma. How was this possible, and what were these people like? The British administration in India took pride in its efficiency and broad-mindedness, its devotion to duty and its sense of imperial grandeur, but it has become fashionable to deprecate it for its arrogance and ignorance. In The Ruling Caste, a balanced, witty, and multi-faceted history, David Gilmour goes far to explain the paradoxes of the "Anglo-Indians," showing us what they hoped to achieve and what sort of society they thought they were helping to build.

"[A] dense and impressive new book on the civil administrators of Victoria's Indian Empire . . . Gilmour is a serious historian. He writes accessibly and even wittily, with a wealth of anecdotage and an eye for the telling story." ―Shashi Tharoor, The Washington Post

"Mr. Gilmour is a stylish and engaging writer . . . [He] does make the case that the civilians, however tarnished their cause in modern eyes, deserve better than they get in A Passage to India." ―William Grimes, The New York Times

About the Author

Sir David Gilmour is one of Britain's most admired and accomplished historical writers and biographers. His books include The Last Leopard, The Long Recessional (FSG, 2002), and The Ruling Caste (FSG, 2006).