An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India

“Divide and rule,” “The Raj, “ “indentured servitude.” If you're of Indian descent, you've probably heard your older family mutter these words with disdain yet never really grasped the sheer horror of British terror that informed their disgust.

There is a rising tide of apologia for colonialism. The ilk of Niall Ferguson sincerely believe that it wasn't all that bad–and they'd be right if all you had to go on were their fantasies of colonial uplift. This is where Shashi Tharoor shines. He simply lays out the best possible excuses for defenders of Britain's treatment of India and then demolishes each nostalgic delusion with historical context, records and facts.

Ultimately, Tharoor's positive argument is pretty simple when you get past all the Imperial gloss: Indians were people. Their lives mattered just as much as yours and mine–but this could never be the case during British rule in India.