Prejudiced, 08 Dec 2008
Having really enjoyed White Mughals I opened this book with anticipation which was not to be realised. In his previous book I saw Dalrymple did not like the Evangelicals who gained control of The East India Company. Here his dislike really shows. He simplisticly seems to put them as the cause of the mutiny and the encouragers of brutal reprisals. Other sources do not agree. In his Urdu book, Asbab-e Baghawat-e Hind (Causes of the Indian Mutiny),[25] Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan asserted
"I believe that there was but one primary cause of the rebellion, the others being merely incidental and arising out of it ... [T]he Natives of India, without perhaps a single exception, blame the Government for having deprived them of their position and dignity and for keeping them down ... Was not the Government aware that the Natives of the very highest rank trembled before its officers, and were in daily fear of suffering the greatest insults and indignities at their hands?" The resulting atrocities would make Cromwell in Ireland appear to be a model of military rectitude.

In his previous book there was one character whose story held the narrative together. The last emperor holds no such fascination. Despite the rave reviews my interest was not held.



A must read, 03 Sep 2008
Dalrymple produces fantastically readable books and this history of 1857 is no exception. This, is perhaps one of the few histories written I English that attempts to use Urdu sources (the other notable book that does so is Amaresh Misra's War of Civilisations). However, Dalrymple doesn't make as extensive use of Urdu and Persian sources as he could have and he is over reliant on Ghalib and one or two others to portray the social history of the mutiny. However the book is still a wonderful read bursting with information and it attempts to portray a balanced view of the events. Dalrymple interweaves contemporary sources with his text masterfully and his inclusion and discussion of some of the poetry of the time makes for a most welcome distraction. Similarly the chapter where he discusses pre-mutiny Delhi is perhaps the most powerful, at least to any Indian Muslim, and it is almost unbearable to think of the city that we have now lost.

This is by no means a full account of the mutiny, the book concentrates mainly on events in Delhi and the life of the last Emperor. However it is a most welcome addition to the mutiny literature and required reading for anyone with even a casual interest in the history of India.


Superb picture of Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857, 08 Aug 2008
This magnificent book is based on Persian and Urdu documents in India's National Archives. It vividly portrays Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857. The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II (1775-1862), was at the heart of a court of great brilliance, home of `the greatest literary renaissance in modern Indian history'. Architectural historian James Ferguson called his palace `the most splendid palace in the world'.

Dalrymple shows that the Uprising resulted from the Raj's growing racism and hatred, its `steady crescendo of insensitivity'. Its arrogant schemes to impose Evangelical Christianity and Christian laws on India `ushered in the most obnoxious phase of colonialism'.

The uprising was `along distinct class lines', with workers to the fore. It was the most serious armed challenge to imperialism in the 19th century, posed to the world's greatest military power. Dalrymple notes the rebels' military, strategic, administrative, logistical and financial failings and their war crimes. But the accusations of rape by the rebels were false: the official inquiry found not a single case of rape; the only mass rapes were by British soldiers after the reconquest of Delhi.

He reveals for the first time `the full scale of the viciousness and brutality of the British response', as detailed in the records of the revived British administration. "The orders were to shoot every soul. ... It was literally murder ... Heaven knows I feel no pity ..." wrote British officer Edward Vibart. Colonel A. R. D. Mackenzie boasted that we "exterminated them as men kill snakes wherever they meet them." After killing three unarmed captive princes, Captain William Hodson wrote to his sister, "I am not cruel, but I confess I did enjoy the opportunity of ridding the earth of these wretches."

Lieutenant Charles Griffiths wrote of John Clifford, the former collector of Gurgaon, "He shook my hands, saying that he had put to death all he had come across, not excepting women and children, and from his excited manner and the appearance of his dress - which was covered with blood stains - I quite believe he told the truth." Governor-General Lord Canning told Queen Victoria that the British forces displayed `a rabid and indiscriminate vindictiveness'.

Palmerston said that Delhi should be deleted from the map, `levelled to the ground'. British forces sacked, looted and emptied Delhi and massacred great swathes of its people. Much of the palace and its surrounding areas were razed. Most of its leading inhabitants were killed or transported to die in the Raj's new Andaman Islands camp for 10,000 prisoners. As far as the Mughal elite were concerned, the British response was `approaching a genocide' and `would today be classified as grisly war crimes'.

Dalrymple sums up, "That massacre of the inhabitants of Delhi, commanded and justified in the eyes of Victorian Evangelicals by their reading of the Christian scriptures. ... `In the city no one's life was safe,' wrote Muin ud-Din Husain Khan. `All able-bodied men who were seen were taken for rebels and shot.' Ghalib, who had disliked the sepoys from the beginning, was now no less horrified by the barbarity of the returning British. `The victors killed all whom they found on the streets,' he wrote in Dastanbuy. `When the angry lions entered the town, they killed the helpless and weak and they burned their houses. Mass slaughter was rampant and streets were filled with horror. It may be that such atrocities always occur after conquest.'"



The Last Mughal's Pollyanna, 23 Jan 2008
The first rule of history is not to take sides, one that William Dalrymple breaks almost on the first page.

Attempting to replace the existing foreign ruling class of India with themselves, the British caused resentment that boiled over in 1857 into a full scale uprising. As the British and their Indian allies tried to put down the uprising both sides were the victims of, and the perpetrators of massacres, and both had their heroes and their villains.

Sadly Dalrymple undermines his detailed research by almost ignoring the massacres of Europeans and Christian converts and the culpability of the Mughal court in them while reporting in detail any British wrongdoing.

This is a good book ruined by the author's prejudices.


the last mughal, 23 Jan 2008
I have now read every single book ever published by William Dalrymple. I would be hard put to name a favourite as each one of them is something of a masterpiece in its own right. The Last Mughal must rate among the very best of Dalrymple's work and indeed must rank as one of the finest on the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Most accounts of the Mutiny are centred around the British forces gathered outside the walls of Delhi. This book gives a unique insight into what was happening inside the walls in the weeks and months leading up to the British invasion and the aftermath.
Dalrymple's writing of history is, in a sense, unique. The Last Mughal reads like a rivetting thriller without ever compromising on fact or scholarship. The author has a profound appreciation of his subject. For anyone with even a passing interest in Indian or British colonial history, a must read.

Prejudiced, 08 Dec 2008
Having really enjoyed White Mughals I opened this book with anticipation which was not to be realised. In his previous book I saw Dalrymple did not like the Evangelicals who gained control of The East India Company. Here his dislike really shows. He simplisticly seems to put them as the cause of the mutiny and the encouragers of brutal reprisals. Other sources do not agree. In his Urdu book, Asbab-e Baghawat-e Hind (Causes of the Indian Mutiny),[25] Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan asserted
"I believe that there was but one primary cause of the rebellion, the others being merely incidental and arising out of it ... [T]he Natives of India, without perhaps a single exception, blame the Government for having deprived them of their position and dignity and for keeping them down ... Was not the Government aware that the Natives of the very highest rank trembled before its officers, and were in daily fear of suffering the greatest insults and indignities at their hands?" The resulting atrocities would make Cromwell in Ireland appear to be a model of military rectitude.

In his previous book there was one character whose story held the narrative together. The last emperor holds no such fascination. Despite the rave reviews my interest was not held.



A must read, 03 Sep 2008
Dalrymple produces fantastically readable books and this history of 1857 is no exception. This, is perhaps one of the few histories written I English that attempts to use Urdu sources (the other notable book that does so is Amaresh Misra's War of Civilisations). However, Dalrymple doesn't make as extensive use of Urdu and Persian sources as he could have and he is over reliant on Ghalib and one or two others to portray the social history of the mutiny. However the book is still a wonderful read bursting with information and it attempts to portray a balanced view of the events. Dalrymple interweaves contemporary sources with his text masterfully and his inclusion and discussion of some of the poetry of the time makes for a most welcome distraction. Similarly the chapter where he discusses pre-mutiny Delhi is perhaps the most powerful, at least to any Indian Muslim, and it is almost unbearable to think of the city that we have now lost.

This is by no means a full account of the mutiny, the book concentrates mainly on events in Delhi and the life of the last Emperor. However it is a most welcome addition to the mutiny literature and required reading for anyone with even a casual interest in the history of India.


Superb picture of Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857, 08 Aug 2008
This magnificent book is based on Persian and Urdu documents in India's National Archives. It vividly portrays Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857. The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II (1775-1862), was at the heart of a court of great brilliance, home of `the greatest literary renaissance in modern Indian history'. Architectural historian James Ferguson called his palace `the most splendid palace in the world'.

Dalrymple shows that the Uprising resulted from the Raj's growing racism and hatred, its `steady crescendo of insensitivity'. Its arrogant schemes to impose Evangelical Christianity and Christian laws on India `ushered in the most obnoxious phase of colonialism'.

The uprising was `along distinct class lines', with workers to the fore. It was the most serious armed challenge to imperialism in the 19th century, posed to the world's greatest military power. Dalrymple notes the rebels' military, strategic, administrative, logistical and financial failings and their war crimes. But the accusations of rape by the rebels were false: the official inquiry found not a single case of rape; the only mass rapes were by British soldiers after the reconquest of Delhi.

He reveals for the first time `the full scale of the viciousness and brutality of the British response', as detailed in the records of the revived British administration. "The orders were to shoot every soul. ... It was literally murder ... Heaven knows I feel no pity ..." wrote British officer Edward Vibart. Colonel A. R. D. Mackenzie boasted that we "exterminated them as men kill snakes wherever they meet them." After killing three unarmed captive princes, Captain William Hodson wrote to his sister, "I am not cruel, but I confess I did enjoy the opportunity of ridding the earth of these wretches."

Lieutenant Charles Griffiths wrote of John Clifford, the former collector of Gurgaon, "He shook my hands, saying that he had put to death all he had come across, not excepting women and children, and from his excited manner and the appearance of his dress - which was covered with blood stains - I quite believe he told the truth." Governor-General Lord Canning told Queen Victoria that the British forces displayed `a rabid and indiscriminate vindictiveness'.

Palmerston said that Delhi should be deleted from the map, `levelled to the ground'. British forces sacked, looted and emptied Delhi and massacred great swathes of its people. Much of the palace and its surrounding areas were razed. Most of its leading inhabitants were killed or transported to die in the Raj's new Andaman Islands camp for 10,000 prisoners. As far as the Mughal elite were concerned, the British response was `approaching a genocide' and `would today be classified as grisly war crimes'.

Dalrymple sums up, "That massacre of the inhabitants of Delhi, commanded and justified in the eyes of Victorian Evangelicals by their reading of the Christian scriptures. ... `In the city no one's life was safe,' wrote Muin ud-Din Husain Khan. `All able-bodied men who were seen were taken for rebels and shot.' Ghalib, who had disliked the sepoys from the beginning, was now no less horrified by the barbarity of the returning British. `The victors killed all whom they found on the streets,' he wrote in Dastanbuy. `When the angry lions entered the town, they killed the helpless and weak and they burned their houses. Mass slaughter was rampant and streets were filled with horror. It may be that such atrocities always occur after conquest.'"



The Last Mughal's Pollyanna, 23 Jan 2008
The first rule of history is not to take sides, one that William Dalrymple breaks almost on the first page.

Attempting to replace the existing foreign ruling class of India with themselves, the British caused resentment that boiled over in 1857 into a full scale uprising. As the British and their Indian allies tried to put down the uprising both sides were the victims of, and the perpetrators of massacres, and both had their heroes and their villains.

Sadly Dalrymple undermines his detailed research by almost ignoring the massacres of Europeans and Christian converts and the culpability of the Mughal court in them while reporting in detail any British wrongdoing.

This is a good book ruined by the author's prejudices.


the last mughal, 23 Jan 2008
I have now read every single book ever published by William Dalrymple. I would be hard put to name a favourite as each one of them is something of a masterpiece in its own right. The Last Mughal must rate among the very best of Dalrymple's work and indeed must rank as one of the finest on the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Most accounts of the Mutiny are centred around the British forces gathered outside the walls of Delhi. This book gives a unique insight into what was happening inside the walls in the weeks and months leading up to the British invasion and the aftermath.
Dalrymple's writing of history is, in a sense, unique. The Last Mughal reads like a rivetting thriller without ever compromising on fact or scholarship. The author has a profound appreciation of his subject. For anyone with even a passing interest in Indian or British colonial history, a must read.


Doesn't quite do this profound man the justice he deserves, 24 Jul 2008
Sadly I was a little disappointed with this. After watching Richard Attenborough's epic with Ben Kingsley, I was so inspired that I had to read more about this inspirational man, so I went straight to the library to get his autobiography.

When will I learn?! I'm not a big fan of autobiographies as, no matter how interesting the person, they tend to be dull and tedious, concentrating on the minutiae, rather than the overall bigger picture. As autobiographies go, this is a strange one. It is what it says on the cover - a series of brief descriptions of his many experiments with the principles of Satya (truth), Ahimsa (non-violence), Religion and Diet. It also charts his journeys through South Africa and India and his dealings with the Governments of the time, pioneering the principle of Satyagraha (mass civil disobedience). There are gaps, however, which was annoying as a reader when the Author declines to describe a particular event, but refers you to another of his books. However, Gandhi writes exquisitely, and his use of language is exemplary. In this respect it was a pleasure to read. Credit must also go to the translator of course, Mahadev Desai.

The theme which resonated most with me was, strangely, his experiments with religion. Strangely, as I'm an atheist. His quest for a better understanding of all religions is admirable. Perhaps if religious leaders all over the world were to be as reasonable and pragmatic as Gandhi, we might not have so many wars based on religion. Gandhi might not have agreed with all principles from every religion, but the very fact that he was willing to acknowledge their existence makes him a better man than most. India and the Indian people have a baffling number of religions and languages. It was interesting to learn a little more about the country at the time, the abject poverty, the politics, the caste system. His philanthropic nature is both bewildering and admirable. He had an inherent need to improve the lives of his fellow countrymen. He certainly was unique and its a shame that there are not more like him in the world today.

Interesting read, 22 Jan 2008
I have read this in the last 12 months and have to say that it is an eye opening book. The sacrifices made, the times it was set in and the general opposition in many countries to many foreigners makes me wonder how one man done so much in one life time.

Its not an easy read in my opinion, but certainly a book that tells it from MK Ghandis side. A book that i wanted to read as an Indian but more importantly as a human who queried how can one man change the world.


Men are mere mortals compared to this man, 25 Sep 2006
My words fail to signify what this man was and still is all about. I can only hope to absorb some of the words handed over to the world from someone who knew what it was all about, he even knew of his impending death. Please accept my words and please make me a better person for having read this book of wonderment.

Everyone should read this book, 06 Jun 2005
In his own words Gandhi takes us through some of the experiences in his life, with each chapter forming at least one important learning lesson to him. All experiences, whether good or bad, had a positive learning lesson on him and contributed to his goal of seeking the truth.

One of his main beliefs was using non-violence as a means of protesting against acts of oppression and using international law to seek justice. This meant he never raised his fists or lowered himself to barbarism however much he was provoked, violated or attacked. In fact this seems to be the opposite attitude demonstrated by all terrorists and most countries (West, Middle East and East) where the belief is that violence and war works. It never has and never will. As Gandhi says "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

As we have now entered the third of the world wars, where the weapons are horrific and the consequences unimaginable, Gandhi's words have never been more important. All politicians and world leaders should read this book. In fact everyone should read this book.

This is the book that will give you lots of food for thought, 03 Jul 2000
Gandhi was such a great man with visionary beyond his time. With courage, self-willed and disciplined mind. He was one of a few who can achieved what he did in one life time. I truly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who is searching for the meaning of life.

William Dalrymple's White Mughals is destined to become one of the great non-fictional classics of Anglo-Indian history. Dalrymple is steeped in India, having lived there for six years, and written a series of remarkable travel books chronicling its past and present, including City of Djinns and The Age of Kali. Having already earned comparisons with great travel writers like Chatwin and Theroux, Dalrymple has now produced a meticulously researched and beautifully written historical narrative on one of the most colourful but neglected aspects of British colonial rule in India.

Set in and around Hyderabad at the beginning of the nineteenth century, White Mughals tells the story of the improbably romantic love affair and marriage between James Achilles Kirkpatrick, a rising star in the East India Company, and Khair-un-Nisa, a Hyderabadi princess. Pursuing Kirkpatrick's passionate affair through the archives across the continents, Dalrymple unveils a fascinating story of intrigue and love that breaches the conventional boundaries of empire. As Kirkpatrick gradually goes native (adopting local clothes and enduring circumcision) he becomes a secret agent working for his wife's royal family against the English, as he tries to balance the interests of both cultures.

However, White Mughals is by no means just an exotic love story. It is a vehicle for Dalrymple's understanding of the complex legacy of the English Empire in India, that he defines more in terms of exchange and negotiation than dominance and subjugation. It is a powerful and moving plea by Dalrymple to understand the cultural intermingling and hybridity that defines both eastern and western cultures, and a convincing rejection of religious intolerance and ethnic essentialism. Elegantly written and at a pace that belies its length, White Mughals confirms Dalrymple's status as one of the most important non-fiction writers of his time. --Jerry Brotton

Prejudiced, 08 Dec 2008
Having really enjoyed White Mughals I opened this book with anticipation which was not to be realised. In his previous book I saw Dalrymple did not like the Evangelicals who gained control of The East India Company. Here his dislike really shows. He simplisticly seems to put them as the cause of the mutiny and the encouragers of brutal reprisals. Other sources do not agree. In his Urdu book, Asbab-e Baghawat-e Hind (Causes of the Indian Mutiny),[25] Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan asserted
"I believe that there was but one primary cause of the rebellion, the others being merely incidental and arising out of it ... [T]he Natives of India, without perhaps a single exception, blame the Government for having deprived them of their position and dignity and for keeping them down ... Was not the Government aware that the Natives of the very highest rank trembled before its officers, and were in daily fear of suffering the greatest insults and indignities at their hands?" The resulting atrocities would make Cromwell in Ireland appear to be a model of military rectitude.

In his previous book there was one character whose story held the narrative together. The last emperor holds no such fascination. Despite the rave reviews my interest was not held.



A must read, 03 Sep 2008
Dalrymple produces fantastically readable books and this history of 1857 is no exception. This, is perhaps one of the few histories written I English that attempts to use Urdu sources (the other notable book that does so is Amaresh Misra's War of Civilisations). However, Dalrymple doesn't make as extensive use of Urdu and Persian sources as he could have and he is over reliant on Ghalib and one or two others to portray the social history of the mutiny. However the book is still a wonderful read bursting with information and it attempts to portray a balanced view of the events. Dalrymple interweaves contemporary sources with his text masterfully and his inclusion and discussion of some of the poetry of the time makes for a most welcome distraction. Similarly the chapter where he discusses pre-mutiny Delhi is perhaps the most powerful, at least to any Indian Muslim, and it is almost unbearable to think of the city that we have now lost.

This is by no means a full account of the mutiny, the book concentrates mainly on events in Delhi and the life of the last Emperor. However it is a most welcome addition to the mutiny literature and required reading for anyone with even a casual interest in the history of India.


Superb picture of Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857, 08 Aug 2008
This magnificent book is based on Persian and Urdu documents in India's National Archives. It vividly portrays Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857. The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II (1775-1862), was at the heart of a court of great brilliance, home of `the greatest literary renaissance in modern Indian history'. Architectural historian James Ferguson called his palace `the most splendid palace in the world'.

Dalrymple shows that the Uprising resulted from the Raj's growing racism and hatred, its `steady crescendo of insensitivity'. Its arrogant schemes to impose Evangelical Christianity and Christian laws on India `ushered in the most obnoxious phase of colonialism'.

The uprising was `along distinct class lines', with workers to the fore. It was the most serious armed challenge to imperialism in the 19th century, posed to the world's greatest military power. Dalrymple notes the rebels' military, strategic, administrative, logistical and financial failings and their war crimes. But the accusations of rape by the rebels were false: the official inquiry found not a single case of rape; the only mass rapes were by British soldiers after the reconquest of Delhi.

He reveals for the first time `the full scale of the viciousness and brutality of the British response', as detailed in the records of the revived British administration. "The orders were to shoot every soul. ... It was literally murder ... Heaven knows I feel no pity ..." wrote British officer Edward Vibart. Colonel A. R. D. Mackenzie boasted that we "exterminated them as men kill snakes wherever they meet them." After killing three unarmed captive princes, Captain William Hodson wrote to his sister, "I am not cruel, but I confess I did enjoy the opportunity of ridding the earth of these wretches."

Lieutenant Charles Griffiths wrote of John Clifford, the former collector of Gurgaon, "He shook my hands, saying that he had put to death all he had come across, not excepting women and children, and from his excited manner and the appearance of his dress - which was covered with blood stains - I quite believe he told the truth." Governor-General Lord Canning told Queen Victoria that the British forces displayed `a rabid and indiscriminate vindictiveness'.

Palmerston said that Delhi should be deleted from the map, `levelled to the ground'. British forces sacked, looted and emptied Delhi and massacred great swathes of its people. Much of the palace and its surrounding areas were razed. Most of its leading inhabitants were killed or transported to die in the Raj's new Andaman Islands camp for 10,000 prisoners. As far as the Mughal elite were concerned, the British response was `approaching a genocide' and `would today be classified as grisly war crimes'.

Dalrymple sums up, "That massacre of the inhabitants of Delhi, commanded and justified in the eyes of Victorian Evangelicals by their reading of the Christian scriptures. ... `In the city no one's life was safe,' wrote Muin ud-Din Husain Khan. `All able-bodied men who were seen were taken for rebels and shot.' Ghalib, who had disliked the sepoys from the beginning, was now no less horrified by the barbarity of the returning British. `The victors killed all whom they found on the streets,' he wrote in Dastanbuy. `When the angry lions entered the town, they killed the helpless and weak and they burned their houses. Mass slaughter was rampant and streets were filled with horror. It may be that such atrocities always occur after conquest.'"



The Last Mughal's Pollyanna, 23 Jan 2008
The first rule of history is not to take sides, one that William Dalrymple breaks almost on the first page.

Attempting to replace the existing foreign ruling class of India with themselves, the British caused resentment that boiled over in 1857 into a full scale uprising. As the British and their Indian allies tried to put down the uprising both sides were the victims of, and the perpetrators of massacres, and both had their heroes and their villains.

Sadly Dalrymple undermines his detailed research by almost ignoring the massacres of Europeans and Christian converts and the culpability of the Mughal court in them while reporting in detail any British wrongdoing.

This is a good book ruined by the author's prejudices.


the last mughal, 23 Jan 2008
I have now read every single book ever published by William Dalrymple. I would be hard put to name a favourite as each one of them is something of a masterpiece in its own right. The Last Mughal must rate among the very best of Dalrymple's work and indeed must rank as one of the finest on the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Most accounts of the Mutiny are centred around the British forces gathered outside the walls of Delhi. This book gives a unique insight into what was happening inside the walls in the weeks and months leading up to the British invasion and the aftermath.
Dalrymple's writing of history is, in a sense, unique. The Last Mughal reads like a rivetting thriller without ever compromising on fact or scholarship. The author has a profound appreciation of his subject. For anyone with even a passing interest in Indian or British colonial history, a must read.


Doesn't quite do this profound man the justice he deserves, 24 Jul 2008
Sadly I was a little disappointed with this. After watching Richard Attenborough's epic with Ben Kingsley, I was so inspired that I had to read more about this inspirational man, so I went straight to the library to get his autobiography.

When will I learn?! I'm not a big fan of autobiographies as, no matter how interesting the person, they tend to be dull and tedious, concentrating on the minutiae, rather than the overall bigger picture. As autobiographies go, this is a strange one. It is what it says on the cover - a series of brief descriptions of his many experiments with the principles of Satya (truth), Ahimsa (non-violence), Religion and Diet. It also charts his journeys through South Africa and India and his dealings with the Governments of the time, pioneering the principle of Satyagraha (mass civil disobedience). There are gaps, however, which was annoying as a reader when the Author declines to describe a particular event, but refers you to another of his books. However, Gandhi writes exquisitely, and his use of language is exemplary. In this respect it was a pleasure to read. Credit must also go to the translator of course, Mahadev Desai.

The theme which resonated most with me was, strangely, his experiments with religion. Strangely, as I'm an atheist. His quest for a better understanding of all religions is admirable. Perhaps if religious leaders all over the world were to be as reasonable and pragmatic as Gandhi, we might not have so many wars based on religion. Gandhi might not have agreed with all principles from every religion, but the very fact that he was willing to acknowledge their existence makes him a better man than most. India and the Indian people have a baffling number of religions and languages. It was interesting to learn a little more about the country at the time, the abject poverty, the politics, the caste system. His philanthropic nature is both bewildering and admirable. He had an inherent need to improve the lives of his fellow countrymen. He certainly was unique and its a shame that there are not more like him in the world today.

Interesting read, 22 Jan 2008
I have read this in the last 12 months and have to say that it is an eye opening book. The sacrifices made, the times it was set in and the general opposition in many countries to many foreigners makes me wonder how one man done so much in one life time.

Its not an easy read in my opinion, but certainly a book that tells it from MK Ghandis side. A book that i wanted to read as an Indian but more importantly as a human who queried how can one man change the world.


Men are mere mortals compared to this man, 25 Sep 2006
My words fail to signify what this man was and still is all about. I can only hope to absorb some of the words handed over to the world from someone who knew what it was all about, he even knew of his impending death. Please accept my words and please make me a better person for having read this book of wonderment.

Everyone should read this book, 06 Jun 2005
In his own words Gandhi takes us through some of the experiences in his life, with each chapter forming at least one important learning lesson to him. All experiences, whether good or bad, had a positive learning lesson on him and contributed to his goal of seeking the truth.

One of his main beliefs was using non-violence as a means of protesting against acts of oppression and using international law to seek justice. This meant he never raised his fists or lowered himself to barbarism however much he was provoked, violated or attacked. In fact this seems to be the opposite attitude demonstrated by all terrorists and most countries (West, Middle East and East) where the belief is that violence and war works. It never has and never will. As Gandhi says "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

As we have now entered the third of the world wars, where the weapons are horrific and the consequences unimaginable, Gandhi's words have never been more important. All politicians and world leaders should read this book. In fact everyone should read this book.

This is the book that will give you lots of food for thought, 03 Jul 2000
Gandhi was such a great man with visionary beyond his time. With courage, self-willed and disciplined mind. He was one of a few who can achieved what he did in one life time. I truly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who is searching for the meaning of life.

Once Upon a Time in Hyderabad ..., 25 Oct 2007
This book is a complex many-faceted marvel! It is carefully researched history transformed into the story of an ultimately tragic romance. With its portrayal of Europeans astride two cultures, it offers a wonderful, and probably unintentional, counterpoint to the Clash of Civilizations. It is a swarm of all-seeing flies on the walls and writing desks of Hyderabad's elite, both British and Indian, two centuries ago - with their city, dress, festivals and habits brought vividly to life. It is a fascinating description of British and Mughal political intrigue in and around the Deccan as imperial control tightened. It is a sensitive reflection on the rapacious, self-indulgent and precarious lives lived by the British in insalubrious coastal cities like Calcutta and Madras. And as result of the unbelievably painstaking process of meticulous documentation we are convinced that we are seeing events exactly as participants did. It is a mind-blowing accomplishment.

Very readable history, 11 Oct 2007
This is a well researched book, it took Dalrymple just over 4 years and addresses a history of British India you won't find elsewhere, the integration of British and other European settlers into India and how they inter-married, converted to Islam, etc

All these things are now conveniently forgotton in the events that followed where the Victorian imperial prejudices are now thought of as having existed from the beginning. Dalrymple shows that this is not so and far more integration and mingling happened in the early years.

The book itself follows the relationship of, James Kirkpatrick, the British resident in Hyderabad in detail and combines it with the background and history of other characters and events relevant to the story. I found the style worked well but could sometimes be too much of a tangent to the main story especially if you're already familiar with the history.

I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Indian history or the life of officers of the Honourable East India Company.

Great history, 12 Sep 2007
This is a fine book set in the period when India came under threat from Napoleon until Nelson intervened at the battle of The Nile. When young English boys were taken out to India for education prior to their careers there it is hadly surprising that some went native. But it was one thing to take a local mistress, quite another to marry a princess. A tragic love story results. The author is clearly more in sympathy with the old policy of The East India Company which banned Christian missionary activity. He regrets the changes brought about by Wilberforce and his Clapham Sect friends which changed official policy towards religion.

A few White Mughals would come in handy now., 13 May 2007
Reading Mr Dalrymple's unusual and revealing White Mugals gives great enjoyment. The focus of the work, an ultimately tragic love story, acts both as an unfolding tale of secret passion, faith and betrayal and as a window on the courtly and city life of Hyderabad and the power politics of the Deccan.

Set mainly in Hyderabad, these events took place as the relatively relaxed attitudes of the C18th towards racial intermarriage, cultural assimilation and religious flexibility gave way to a new tone from the British in India of racial and cultural superiority and Christian intolerance.

The principal narrative is of the love between James Kirkpatrick, Resident (or ambassador) for the British East India Company at the Muslim court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and Khair un-Nissa, the young and beautiful daughter of a Hyderabadi noble family.

How their personalities and mutual devotion become entangled in the politics both of the Hyderabadi court and of the increasinly fractious relationship between the East India Company and the Nizam is vividly related through a rich documentation not previously brought to light.

The range of characters of all persuasions we meet en route to the final, sad correspondence between the mother and daughter of Kahir un-Nissa, is rich in the extreme. Which of us would not wish to dine with the urbane and effective Aristu Jah, Minister to the Nizam, in his scented night garden? Who of us could bear the bullying authority of Richard Wellesley, Governor General of India; neither the first nor the last to build and then damage his career through an intemperance in the East, and perhaps more than a footnote in assessing whether trade follows the flag, or the other way around.

Mr Dalrymple gives himself ample space both to tell his story and to digress into a range of beguiling, extended asides into the cultural, relgious and political milieu against which his principals play out their fate. Hyderabadi gardening, the fusion of Muslim and Hindu religious observances, the use of public works, architectural styles, the politics of the harem and the lives of other 'White Mughals' all feature strongly.

And underlying everything is a sense that, when all is said and done, there is more pleasure in the sharing of difference than many would currently allow. We could do with a few more James Kirkpatricks today, and rather fewer Richard Wellesleys.






























This superb book, 31 May 2006
This is a marvellous book, history at its most appealing as documentation of a period and as gripping narrative. At its core is the love story and marriage between James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the East India Company's Hyderabad resident at the end of the 18th century, and Khair Un-Nissa, the grand-daughter of a high ranking official at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick's significance is that he represents a little-known phenomenon: the adoption by some Europeans of the religion, manners and dress of Islam or Hinduism while (in the case of the book's protagonists) retaining their essential Britishness. Around this theme of cross-cultural migration and the personal narrative of the Kirkpatrick family whose children were sent off to England at a young age and never saw their parents again, William Dalrymple has woven a marvellous tapestry of Hyderabad court life, East India Company attitudes and Anglo-Indian intrigue. The story is peopled with some fascinating human beings including the Nizam's Prime Minister Aristu Jah and his assistant and later successor Mir Alam; the William Palmers father and son who appear to have achieved as complete an identity with their host country as it is possible to imagine; Marquess Wellesley, the bullying Governor General of the day and elder brother of the (later) Duke of Wellington; Khair's mother Sharaf un-Nissa who lived on for decades after her daughter's death and whose late correspondence with her granddaughter is one of the book's most moving moments; and James Achilles Kirkpatrick himself, a decent and honourable man, anointed son of the Nizam, at first willing instrument of the Governor General's policies but later disillusioned by the latter's excesses and prepared to counter them. It is through the sources he has unearthed, in particular the correspondence, that Dalrymple succeeds so brilliantly in bringing these forgotten people back to life so that their motives and passions engage us across the gulf of two centuries and profound changes in social assumptions and attitudes. The story is imbued with the author's own evident love of India and its people and his ability to steep himself in his subject so that we feel we breathe the air of the country.

Anyone who has the slightest affinity for India or an interest in the colonial Anglo-Indian relationship will love this book.

Prejudiced, 08 Dec 2008
Having really enjoyed White Mughals I opened this book with anticipation which was not to be realised. In his previous book I saw Dalrymple did not like the Evangelicals who gained control of The East India Company. Here his dislike really shows. He simplisticly seems to put them as the cause of the mutiny and the encouragers of brutal reprisals. Other sources do not agree. In his Urdu book, Asbab-e Baghawat-e Hind (Causes of the Indian Mutiny),[25] Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan asserted
"I believe that there was but one primary cause of the rebellion, the others being merely incidental and arising out of it ... [T]he Natives of India, without perhaps a single exception, blame the Government for having deprived them of their position and dignity and for keeping them down ... Was not the Government aware that the Natives of the very highest rank trembled before its officers, and were in daily fear of suffering the greatest insults and indignities at their hands?" The resulting atrocities would make Cromwell in Ireland appear to be a model of military rectitude.

In his previous book there was one character whose story held the narrative together. The last emperor holds no such fascination. Despite the rave reviews my interest was not held.



A must read, 03 Sep 2008
Dalrymple produces fantastically readable books and this history of 1857 is no exception. This, is perhaps one of the few histories written I English that attempts to use Urdu sources (the other notable book that does so is Amaresh Misra's War of Civilisations). However, Dalrymple doesn't make as extensive use of Urdu and Persian sources as he could have and he is over reliant on Ghalib and one or two others to portray the social history of the mutiny. However the book is still a wonderful read bursting with information and it attempts to portray a balanced view of the events. Dalrymple interweaves contemporary sources with his text masterfully and his inclusion and discussion of some of the poetry of the time makes for a most welcome distraction. Similarly the chapter where he discusses pre-mutiny Delhi is perhaps the most powerful, at least to any Indian Muslim, and it is almost unbearable to think of the city that we have now lost.

This is by no means a full account of the mutiny, the book concentrates mainly on events in Delhi and the life of the last Emperor. However it is a most welcome addition to the mutiny literature and required reading for anyone with even a casual interest in the history of India.


Superb picture of Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857, 08 Aug 2008
This magnificent book is based on Persian and Urdu documents in India's National Archives. It vividly portrays Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857. The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II (1775-1862), was at the heart of a court of great brilliance, home of `the greatest literary renaissance in modern Indian history'. Architectural historian James Ferguson called his palace `the most splendid palace in the world'.

Dalrymple shows that the Uprising resulted from the Raj's growing racism and hatred, its `steady crescendo of insensitivity'. Its arrogant schemes to impose Evangelical Christianity and Christian laws on India `ushered in the most obnoxious phase of colonialism'.

The uprising was `along distinct class lines', with workers to the fore. It was the most serious armed challenge to imperialism in the 19th century, posed to the world's greatest military power. Dalrymple notes the rebels' military, strategic, administrative, logistical and financial failings and their war crimes. But the accusations of rape by the rebels were false: the official inquiry found not a single case of rape; the only mass rapes were by British soldiers after the reconquest of Delhi.

He reveals for the first time `the full scale of the viciousness and brutality of the British response', as detailed in the records of the revived British administration. "The orders were to shoot every soul. ... It was literally murder ... Heaven knows I feel no pity ..." wrote British officer Edward Vibart. Colonel A. R. D. Mackenzie boasted that we "exterminated them as men kill snakes wherever they meet them." After killing three unarmed captive princes, Captain William Hodson wrote to his sister, "I am not cruel, but I confess I did enjoy the opportunity of ridding the earth of these wretches."

Lieutenant Charles Griffiths wrote of John Clifford, the former collector of Gurgaon, "He shook my hands, saying that he had put to death all he had come across, not excepting women and children, and from his excited manner and the appearance of his dress - which was covered with blood stains - I quite believe he told the truth." Governor-General Lord Canning told Queen Victoria that the British forces displayed `a rabid and indiscriminate vindictiveness'.

Palmerston said that Delhi should be deleted from the map, `levelled to the ground'. British forces sacked, looted and emptied Delhi and massacred great swathes of its people. Much of the palace and its surrounding areas were razed. Most of its leading inhabitants were killed or transported to die in the Raj's new Andaman Islands camp for 10,000 prisoners. As far as the Mughal elite were concerned, the British response was `approaching a genocide' and `would today be classified as grisly war crimes'.

Dalrymple sums up, "That massacre of the inhabitants of Delhi, commanded and justified in the eyes of Victorian Evangelicals by their reading of the Christian scriptures. ... `In the city no one's life was safe,' wrote Muin ud-Din Husain Khan. `All able-bodied men who were seen were taken for rebels and shot.' Ghalib, who had disliked the sepoys from the beginning, was now no less horrified by the barbarity of the returning British. `The victors killed all whom they found on the streets,' he wrote in Dastanbuy. `When the angry lions entered the town, they killed the helpless and weak and they burned their houses. Mass slaughter was rampant and streets were filled with horror. It may be that such atrocities always occur after conquest.'"



The Last Mughal's Pollyanna, 23 Jan 2008
The first rule of history is not to take sides, one that William Dalrymple breaks almost on the first page.

Attempting to replace the existing foreign ruling class of India with themselves, the British caused resentment that boiled over in 1857 into a full scale uprising. As the British and their Indian allies tried to put down the uprising both sides were the victims of, and the perpetrators of massacres, and both had their heroes and their villains.

Sadly Dalrymple undermines his detailed research by almost ignoring the massacres of Europeans and Christian converts and the culpability of the Mughal court in them while reporting in detail any British wrongdoing.

This is a good book ruined by the author's prejudices.


the last mughal, 23 Jan 2008
I have now read every single book ever published by William Dalrymple. I would be hard put to name a favourite as each one of them is something of a masterpiece in its own right. The Last Mughal must rate among the very best of Dalrymple's work and indeed must rank as one of the finest on the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Most accounts of the Mutiny are centred around the British forces gathered outside the walls of Delhi. This book gives a unique insight into what was happening inside the walls in the weeks and months leading up to the British invasion and the aftermath.
Dalrymple's writing of history is, in a sense, unique. The Last Mughal reads like a rivetting thriller without ever compromising on fact or scholarship. The author has a profound appreciation of his subject. For anyone with even a passing interest in Indian or British colonial history, a must read.


Doesn't quite do this profound man the justice he deserves, 24 Jul 2008
Sadly I was a little disappointed with this. After watching Richard Attenborough's epic with Ben Kingsley, I was so inspired that I had to read more about this inspirational man, so I went straight to the library to get his autobiography.

When will I learn?! I'm not a big fan of autobiographies as, no matter how interesting the person, they tend to be dull and tedious, concentrating on the minutiae, rather than the overall bigger picture. As autobiographies go, this is a strange one. It is what it says on the cover - a series of brief descriptions of his many experiments with the principles of Satya (truth), Ahimsa (non-violence), Religion and Diet. It also charts his journeys through South Africa and India and his dealings with the Governments of the time, pioneering the principle of Satyagraha (mass civil disobedience). There are gaps, however, which was annoying as a reader when the Author declines to describe a particular event, but refers you to another of his books. However, Gandhi writes exquisitely, and his use of language is exemplary. In this respect it was a pleasure to read. Credit must also go to the translator of course, Mahadev Desai.

The theme which resonated most with me was, strangely, his experiments with religion. Strangely, as I'm an atheist. His quest for a better understanding of all religions is admirable. Perhaps if religious leaders all over the world were to be as reasonable and pragmatic as Gandhi, we might not have so many wars based on religion. Gandhi might not have agreed with all principles from every religion, but the very fact that he was willing to acknowledge their existence makes him a better man than most. India and the Indian people have a baffling number of religions and languages. It was interesting to learn a little more about the country at the time, the abject poverty, the politics, the caste system. His philanthropic nature is both bewildering and admirable. He had an inherent need to improve the lives of his fellow countrymen. He certainly was unique and its a shame that there are not more like him in the world today.

Interesting read, 22 Jan 2008
I have read this in the last 12 months and have to say that it is an eye opening book. The sacrifices made, the times it was set in and the general opposition in many countries to many foreigners makes me wonder how one man done so much in one life time.

Its not an easy read in my opinion, but certainly a book that tells it from MK Ghandis side. A book that i wanted to read as an Indian but more importantly as a human who queried how can one man change the world.


Men are mere mortals compared to this man, 25 Sep 2006
My words fail to signify what this man was and still is all about. I can only hope to absorb some of the words handed over to the world from someone who knew what it was all about, he even knew of his impending death. Please accept my words and please make me a better person for having read this book of wonderment.

Everyone should read this book, 06 Jun 2005
In his own words Gandhi takes us through some of the experiences in his life, with each chapter forming at least one important learning lesson to him. All experiences, whether good or bad, had a positive learning lesson on him and contributed to his goal of seeking the truth.

One of his main beliefs was using non-violence as a means of protesting against acts of oppression and using international law to seek justice. This meant he never raised his fists or lowered himself to barbarism however much he was provoked, violated or attacked. In fact this seems to be the opposite attitude demonstrated by all terrorists and most countries (West, Middle East and East) where the belief is that violence and war works. It never has and never will. As Gandhi says "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

As we have now entered the third of the world wars, where the weapons are horrific and the consequences unimaginable, Gandhi's words have never been more important. All politicians and world leaders should read this book. In fact everyone should read this book.

This is the book that will give you lots of food for thought, 03 Jul 2000
Gandhi was such a great man with visionary beyond his time. With courage, self-willed and disciplined mind. He was one of a few who can achieved what he did in one life time. I truly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who is searching for the meaning of life.

Once Upon a Time in Hyderabad ..., 25 Oct 2007
This book is a complex many-faceted marvel! It is carefully researched history transformed into the story of an ultimately tragic romance. With its portrayal of Europeans astride two cultures, it offers a wonderful, and probably unintentional, counterpoint to the Clash of Civilizations. It is a swarm of all-seeing flies on the walls and writing desks of Hyderabad's elite, both British and Indian, two centuries ago - with their city, dress, festivals and habits brought vividly to life. It is a fascinating description of British and Mughal political intrigue in and around the Deccan as imperial control tightened. It is a sensitive reflection on the rapacious, self-indulgent and precarious lives lived by the British in insalubrious coastal cities like Calcutta and Madras. And as result of the unbelievably painstaking process of meticulous documentation we are convinced that we are seeing events exactly as participants did. It is a mind-blowing accomplishment.

Very readable history, 11 Oct 2007
This is a well researched book, it took Dalrymple just over 4 years and addresses a history of British India you won't find elsewhere, the integration of British and other European settlers into India and how they inter-married, converted to Islam, etc

All these things are now conveniently forgotton in the events that followed where the Victorian imperial prejudices are now thought of as having existed from the beginning. Dalrymple shows that this is not so and far more integration and mingling happened in the early years.

The book itself follows the relationship of, James Kirkpatrick, the British resident in Hyderabad in detail and combines it with the background and history of other characters and events relevant to the story. I found the style worked well but could sometimes be too much of a tangent to the main story especially if you're already familiar with the history.

I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Indian history or the life of officers of the Honourable East India Company.

Great history, 12 Sep 2007
This is a fine book set in the period when India came under threat from Napoleon until Nelson intervened at the battle of The Nile. When young English boys were taken out to India for education prior to their careers there it is hadly surprising that some went native. But it was one thing to take a local mistress, quite another to marry a princess. A tragic love story results. The author is clearly more in sympathy with the old policy of The East India Company which banned Christian missionary activity. He regrets the changes brought about by Wilberforce and his Clapham Sect friends which changed official policy towards religion.

A few White Mughals would come in handy now., 13 May 2007
Reading Mr Dalrymple's unusual and revealing White Mugals gives great enjoyment. The focus of the work, an ultimately tragic love story, acts both as an unfolding tale of secret passion, faith and betrayal and as a window on the courtly and city life of Hyderabad and the power politics of the Deccan.

Set mainly in Hyderabad, these events took place as the relatively relaxed attitudes of the C18th towards racial intermarriage, cultural assimilation and religious flexibility gave way to a new tone from the British in India of racial and cultural superiority and Christian intolerance.

The principal narrative is of the love between James Kirkpatrick, Resident (or ambassador) for the British East India Company at the Muslim court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and Khair un-Nissa, the young and beautiful daughter of a Hyderabadi noble family.

How their personalities and mutual devotion become entangled in the politics both of the Hyderabadi court and of the increasinly fractious relationship between the East India Company and the Nizam is vividly related through a rich documentation not previously brought to light.

The range of characters of all persuasions we meet en route to the final, sad correspondence between the mother and daughter of Kahir un-Nissa, is rich in the extreme. Which of us would not wish to dine with the urbane and effective Aristu Jah, Minister to the Nizam, in his scented night garden? Who of us could bear the bullying authority of Richard Wellesley, Governor General of India; neither the first nor the last to build and then damage his career through an intemperance in the East, and perhaps more than a footnote in assessing whether trade follows the flag, or the other way around.

Mr Dalrymple gives himself ample space both to tell his story and to digress into a range of beguiling, extended asides into the cultural, relgious and political milieu against which his principals play out their fate. Hyderabadi gardening, the fusion of Muslim and Hindu religious observances, the use of public works, architectural styles, the politics of the harem and the lives of other 'White Mughals' all feature strongly.

And underlying everything is a sense that, when all is said and done, there is more pleasure in the sharing of difference than many would currently allow. We could do with a few more James Kirkpatricks today, and rather fewer Richard Wellesleys.






























This superb book, 31 May 2006
This is a marvellous book, history at its most appealing as documentation of a period and as gripping narrative. At its core is the love story and marriage between James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the East India Company's Hyderabad resident at the end of the 18th century, and Khair Un-Nissa, the grand-daughter of a high ranking official at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick's significance is that he represents a little-known phenomenon: the adoption by some Europeans of the religion, manners and dress of Islam or Hinduism while (in the case of the book's protagonists) retaining their essential Britishness. Around this theme of cross-cultural migration and the personal narrative of the Kirkpatrick family whose children were sent off to England at a young age and never saw their parents again, William Dalrymple has woven a marvellous tapestry of Hyderabad court life, East India Company attitudes and Anglo-Indian intrigue. The story is peopled with some fascinating human beings including the Nizam's Prime Minister Aristu Jah and his assistant and later successor Mir Alam; the William Palmers father and son who appear to have achieved as complete an identity with their host country as it is possible to imagine; Marquess Wellesley, the bullying Governor General of the day and elder brother of the (later) Duke of Wellington; Khair's mother Sharaf un-Nissa who lived on for decades after her daughter's death and whose late correspondence with her granddaughter is one of the book's most moving moments; and James Achilles Kirkpatrick himself, a decent and honourable man, anointed son of the Nizam, at first willing instrument of the Governor General's policies but later disillusioned by the latter's excesses and prepared to counter them. It is through the sources he has unearthed, in particular the correspondence, that Dalrymple succeeds so brilliantly in bringing these forgotten people back to life so that their motives and passions engage us across the gulf of two centuries and profound changes in social assumptions and attitudes. The story is imbued with the author's own evident love of India and its people and his ability to steep himself in his subject so that we feel we breathe the air of the country.

Anyone who has the slightest affinity for India or an interest in the colonial Anglo-Indian relationship will love this book.


Well written, 07 Jul 2008
I have read this book quite quickly as I found it very interesting.It is well researched and very readable for a lay person like me. An essential read for people who are interested in the future!

Michael Wood's approachable (but highly informed) manner is a gift for TV presentation of a diverse selection of subjects, ranging from archaeology to foreign countries to Shakespeare, and as the book to accompany the epic BBC history series The Story of India comprehensively proves, those attributes transfer smoothly to the printed page. In this sumptuously illustrated volume, Wood tells a fascinating, turbulent story -- nothing less than the 10,000 year history of India. Over a fifth of the world's population is crammed into a subcontinent which was the initial progenitor of one of the most significant civilisations on the planet. And in a period when India becomes a global economic force to be reckoned with, it is the perfect time for Wood to show us how this massively achieving country relates to the demands of the modern world, while celebrating the awe-inspiring riches of the country's past. Taking us from the Himalayas to the sultry jungles of India's deep South, Michael Wood presents every aspect of the country, from its cultures, regions, religions and major historical figures (such as Gandhi and Nehru). The influence of Indian ideas on the rest of the world has long been a potent force, and Wood takes that on in a clear-sighted way; some might wish he tackle more rigorously the more controversial aspects of Indian society and religion, but this is not that kind of book. And the remarkable colour photographs perfect complement this ambitious and enlightening history and travelogue of one of the world's great countries. --Barry Forshaw

Prejudiced, 08 Dec 2008
Having really enjoyed White Mughals I opened this book with anticipation which was not to be realised. In his previous book I saw Dalrymple did not like the Evangelicals who gained control of The East India Company. Here his dislike really shows. He simplisticly seems to put them as the cause of the mutiny and the encouragers of brutal reprisals. Other sources do not agree. In his Urdu book, Asbab-e Baghawat-e Hind (Causes of the Indian Mutiny),[25] Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan asserted
"I believe that there was but one primary cause of the rebellion, the others being merely incidental and arising out of it ... [T]he Natives of India, without perhaps a single exception, blame the Government for having deprived them of their position and dignity and for keeping them down ... Was not the Government aware that the Natives of the very highest rank trembled before its officers, and were in daily fear of suffering the greatest insults and indignities at their hands?" The resulting atrocities would make Cromwell in Ireland appear to be a model of military rectitude.

In his previous book there was one character whose story held the narrative together. The last emperor holds no such fascination. Despite the rave reviews my interest was not held.



A must read, 03 Sep 2008
Dalrymple produces fantastically readable books and this history of 1857 is no exception. This, is perhaps one of the few histories written I English that attempts to use Urdu sources (the other notable book that does so is Amaresh Misra's War of Civilisations). However, Dalrymple doesn't make as extensive use of Urdu and Persian sources as he could have and he is over reliant on Ghalib and one or two others to portray the social history of the mutiny. However the book is still a wonderful read bursting with information and it attempts to portray a balanced view of the events. Dalrymple interweaves contemporary sources with his text masterfully and his inclusion and discussion of some of the poetry of the time makes for a most welcome distraction. Similarly the chapter where he discusses pre-mutiny Delhi is perhaps the most powerful, at least to any Indian Muslim, and it is almost unbearable to think of the city that we have now lost.

This is by no means a full account of the mutiny, the book concentrates mainly on events in Delhi and the life of the last Emperor. However it is a most welcome addition to the mutiny literature and required reading for anyone with even a casual interest in the history of India.


Superb picture of Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857, 08 Aug 2008
This magnificent book is based on Persian and Urdu documents in India's National Archives. It vividly portrays Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857. The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II (1775-1862), was at the heart of a court of great brilliance, home of `the greatest literary renaissance in modern Indian history'. Architectural historian James Ferguson called his palace `the most splendid palace in the world'.

Dalrymple shows that the Uprising resulted from the Raj's growing racism and hatred, its `steady crescendo of insensitivity'. Its arrogant schemes to impose Evangelical Christianity and Christian laws on India `ushered in the most obnoxious phase of colonialism'.

The uprising was `along distinct class lines', with workers to the fore. It was the most serious armed challenge to imperialism in the 19th century, posed to the world's greatest military power. Dalrymple notes the rebels' military, strategic, administrative, logistical and financial failings and their war crimes. But the accusations of rape by the rebels were false: the official inquiry found not a single case of rape; the only mass rapes were by British soldiers after the reconquest of Delhi.

He reveals for the first time `the full scale of the viciousness and brutality of the British response', as detailed in the records of the revived British administration. "The orders were to shoot every soul. ... It was literally murder ... Heaven knows I feel no pity ..." wrote British officer Edward Vibart. Colonel A. R. D. Mackenzie boasted that we "exterminated them as men kill snakes wherever they meet them." After killing three unarmed captive princes, Captain William Hodson wrote to his sister, "I am not cruel, but I confess I did enjoy the opportunity of ridding the earth of these wretches."

Lieutenant Charles Griffiths wrote of John Clifford, the former collector of Gurgaon, "He shook my hands, saying that he had put to death all he had come across, not excepting women and children, and from his excited manner and the appearance of his dress - which was covered with blood stains - I quite believe he told the truth." Governor-General Lord Canning told Queen Victoria that the British forces displayed `a rabid and indiscriminate vindictiveness'.

Palmerston said that Delhi should be deleted from the map, `levelled to the ground'. British forces sacked, looted and emptied Delhi and massacred great swathes of its people. Much of the palace and its surrounding areas were razed. Most of its leading inhabitants were killed or transported to die in the Raj's new Andaman Islands camp for 10,000 prisoners. As far as the Mughal elite were concerned, the British response was `approaching a genocide' and `would today be classified as grisly war crimes'.

Dalrymple sums up, "That massacre of the inhabitants of Delhi, commanded and justified in the eyes of Victorian Evangelicals by their reading of the Christian scriptures. ... `In the city no one's life was safe,' wrote Muin ud-Din Husain Khan. `All able-bodied men who were seen were taken for rebels and shot.' Ghalib, who had disliked the sepoys from the beginning, was now no less horrified by the barbarity of the returning British. `The victors killed all whom they found on the streets,' he wrote in Dastanbuy. `When the angry lions entered the town, they killed the helpless and weak and they burned their houses. Mass slaughter was rampant and streets were filled with horror. It may be that such atrocities always occur after conquest.'"



The Last Mughal's Pollyanna, 23 Jan 2008
The first rule of history is not to take sides, one that William Dalrymple breaks almost on the first page.

Attempting to replace the existing foreign ruling class of India with themselves, the British caused resentment that boiled over in 1857 into a full scale uprising. As the British and their Indian allies tried to put down the uprising both sides were the victims of, and the perpetrators of massacres, and both had their heroes and their villains.

Sadly Dalrymple undermines his detailed research by almost ignoring the massacres of Europeans and Christian converts and the culpability of the Mughal court in them while reporting in detail any British wrongdoing.

This is a good book ruined by the author's prejudices.


the last mughal, 23 Jan 2008
I have now read every single book ever published by William Dalrymple. I would be hard put to name a favourite as each one of them is something of a masterpiece in its own right. The Last Mughal must rate among the very best of Dalrymple's work and indeed must rank as one of the finest on the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Most accounts of the Mutiny are centred around the British forces gathered outside the walls of Delhi. This book gives a unique insight into what was happening inside the walls in the weeks and months leading up to the British invasion and the aftermath.
Dalrymple's writing of history is, in a sense, unique. The Last Mughal reads like a rivetting thriller without ever compromising on fact or scholarship. The author has a profound appreciation of his subject. For anyone with even a passing interest in Indian or British colonial history, a must read.


Doesn't quite do this profound man the justice he deserves, 24 Jul 2008
Sadly I was a little disappointed with this. After watching Richard Attenborough's epic with Ben Kingsley, I was so inspired that I had to read more about this inspirational man, so I went straight to the library to get his autobiography.

When will I learn?! I'm not a big fan of autobiographies as, no matter how interesting the person, they tend to be dull and tedious, concentrating on the minutiae, rather than the overall bigger picture. As autobiographies go, this is a strange one. It is what it says on the cover - a series of brief descriptions of his many experiments with the principles of Satya (truth), Ahimsa (non-violence), Religion and Diet. It also charts his journeys through South Africa and India and his dealings with the Governments of the time, pioneering the principle of Satyagraha (mass civil disobedience). There are gaps, however, which was annoying as a reader when the Author declines to describe a particular event, but refers you to another of his books. However, Gandhi writes exquisitely, and his use of language is exemplary. In this respect it was a pleasure to read. Credit must also go to the translator of course, Mahadev Desai.

The theme which resonated most with me was, strangely, his experiments with religion. Strangely, as I'm an atheist. His quest for a better understanding of all religions is admirable. Perhaps if religious leaders all over the world were to be as reasonable and pragmatic as Gandhi, we might not have so many wars based on religion. Gandhi might not have agreed with all principles from every religion, but the very fact that he was willing to acknowledge their existence makes him a better man than most. India and the Indian people have a baffling number of religions and languages. It was interesting to learn a little more about the country at the time, the abject poverty, the politics, the caste system. His philanthropic nature is both bewildering and admirable. He had an inherent need to improve the lives of his fellow countrymen. He certainly was unique and its a shame that there are not more like him in the world today.

Interesting read, 22 Jan 2008
I have read this in the last 12 months and have to say that it is an eye opening book. The sacrifices made, the times it was set in and the general opposition in many countries to many foreigners makes me wonder how one man done so much in one life time.

Its not an easy read in my opinion, but certainly a book that tells it from MK Ghandis side. A book that i wanted to read as an Indian but more importantly as a human who queried how can one man change the world.


Men are mere mortals compared to this man, 25 Sep 2006
My words fail to signify what this man was and still is all about. I can only hope to absorb some of the words handed over to the world from someone who knew what it was all about, he even knew of his impending death. Please accept my words and please make me a better person for having read this book of wonderment.

Everyone should read this book, 06 Jun 2005
In his own words Gandhi takes us through some of the experiences in his life, with each chapter forming at least one important learning lesson to him. All experiences, whether good or bad, had a positive learning lesson on him and contributed to his goal of seeking the truth.

One of his main beliefs was using non-violence as a means of protesting against acts of oppression and using international law to seek justice. This meant he never raised his fists or lowered himself to barbarism however much he was provoked, violated or attacked. In fact this seems to be the opposite attitude demonstrated by all terrorists and most countries (West, Middle East and East) where the belief is that violence and war works. It never has and never will. As Gandhi says "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

As we have now entered the third of the world wars, where the weapons are horrific and the consequences unimaginable, Gandhi's words have never been more important. All politicians and world leaders should read this book. In fact everyone should read this book.

This is the book that will give you lots of food for thought, 03 Jul 2000
Gandhi was such a great man with visionary beyond his time. With courage, self-willed and disciplined mind. He was one of a few who can achieved what he did in one life time. I truly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who is searching for the meaning of life.

Once Upon a Time in Hyderabad ..., 25 Oct 2007
This book is a complex many-faceted marvel! It is carefully researched history transformed into the story of an ultimately tragic romance. With its portrayal of Europeans astride two cultures, it offers a wonderful, and probably unintentional, counterpoint to the Clash of Civilizations. It is a swarm of all-seeing flies on the walls and writing desks of Hyderabad's elite, both British and Indian, two centuries ago - with their city, dress, festivals and habits brought vividly to life. It is a fascinating description of British and Mughal political intrigue in and around the Deccan as imperial control tightened. It is a sensitive reflection on the rapacious, self-indulgent and precarious lives lived by the British in insalubrious coastal cities like Calcutta and Madras. And as result of the unbelievably painstaking process of meticulous documentation we are convinced that we are seeing events exactly as participants did. It is a mind-blowing accomplishment.

Very readable history, 11 Oct 2007
This is a well researched book, it took Dalrymple just over 4 years and addresses a history of British India you won't find elsewhere, the integration of British and other European settlers into India and how they inter-married, converted to Islam, etc

All these things are now conveniently forgotton in the events that followed where the Victorian imperial prejudices are now thought of as having existed from the beginning. Dalrymple shows that this is not so and far more integration and mingling happened in the early years.

The book itself follows the relationship of, James Kirkpatrick, the British resident in Hyderabad in detail and combines it with the background and history of other characters and events relevant to the story. I found the style worked well but could sometimes be too much of a tangent to the main story especially if you're already familiar with the history.

I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Indian history or the life of officers of the Honourable East India Company.

Great history, 12 Sep 2007
This is a fine book set in the period when India came under threat from Napoleon until Nelson intervened at the battle of The Nile. When young English boys were taken out to India for education prior to their careers there it is hadly surprising that some went native. But it was one thing to take a local mistress, quite another to marry a princess. A tragic love story results. The author is clearly more in sympathy with the old policy of The East India Company which banned Christian missionary activity. He regrets the changes brought about by Wilberforce and his Clapham Sect friends which changed official policy towards religion.

A few White Mughals would come in handy now., 13 May 2007
Reading Mr Dalrymple's unusual and revealing White Mugals gives great enjoyment. The focus of the work, an ultimately tragic love story, acts both as an unfolding tale of secret passion, faith and betrayal and as a window on the courtly and city life of Hyderabad and the power politics of the Deccan.

Set mainly in Hyderabad, these events took place as the relatively relaxed attitudes of the C18th towards racial intermarriage, cultural assimilation and religious flexibility gave way to a new tone from the British in India of racial and cultural superiority and Christian intolerance.

The principal narrative is of the love between James Kirkpatrick, Resident (or ambassador) for the British East India Company at the Muslim court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and Khair un-Nissa, the young and beautiful daughter of a Hyderabadi noble family.

How their personalities and mutual devotion become entangled in the politics both of the Hyderabadi court and of the increasinly fractious relationship between the East India Company and the Nizam is vividly related through a rich documentation not previously brought to light.

The range of characters of all persuasions we meet en route to the final, sad correspondence between the mother and daughter of Kahir un-Nissa, is rich in the extreme. Which of us would not wish to dine with the urbane and effective Aristu Jah, Minister to the Nizam, in his scented night garden? Who of us could bear the bullying authority of Richard Wellesley, Governor General of India; neither the first nor the last to build and then damage his career through an intemperance in the East, and perhaps more than a footnote in assessing whether trade follows the flag, or the other way around.

Mr Dalrymple gives himself ample space both to tell his story and to digress into a range of beguiling, extended asides into the cultural, relgious and political milieu against which his principals play out their fate. Hyderabadi gardening, the fusion of Muslim and Hindu religious observances, the use of public works, architectural styles, the politics of the harem and the lives of other 'White Mughals' all feature strongly.

And underlying everything is a sense that, when all is said and done, there is more pleasure in the sharing of difference than many would currently allow. We could do with a few more James Kirkpatricks today, and rather fewer Richard Wellesleys.






























This superb book, 31 May 2006
This is a marvellous book, history at its most appealing as documentation of a period and as gripping narrative. At its core is the love story and marriage between James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the East India Company's Hyderabad resident at the end of the 18th century, and Khair Un-Nissa, the grand-daughter of a high ranking official at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick's significance is that he represents a little-known phenomenon: the adoption by some Europeans of the religion, manners and dress of Islam or Hinduism while (in the case of the book's protagonists) retaining their essential Britishness. Around this theme of cross-cultural migration and the personal narrative of the Kirkpatrick family whose children were sent off to England at a young age and never saw their parents again, William Dalrymple has woven a marvellous tapestry of Hyderabad court life, East India Company attitudes and Anglo-Indian intrigue. The story is peopled with some fascinating human beings including the Nizam's Prime Minister Aristu Jah and his assistant and later successor Mir Alam; the William Palmers father and son who appear to have achieved as complete an identity with their host country as it is possible to imagine; Marquess Wellesley, the bullying Governor General of the day and elder brother of the (later) Duke of Wellington; Khair's mother Sharaf un-Nissa who lived on for decades after her daughter's death and whose late correspondence with her granddaughter is one of the book's most moving moments; and James Achilles Kirkpatrick himself, a decent and honourable man, anointed son of the Nizam, at first willing instrument of the Governor General's policies but later disillusioned by the latter's excesses and prepared to counter them. It is through the sources he has unearthed, in particular the correspondence, that Dalrymple succeeds so brilliantly in bringing these forgotten people back to life so that their motives and passions engage us across the gulf of two centuries and profound changes in social assumptions and attitudes. The story is imbued with the author's own evident love of India and its people and his ability to steep himself in his subject so that we feel we breathe the air of the country.

Anyone who has the slightest affinity for India or an interest in the colonial Anglo-Indian relationship will love this book.


Well written, 07 Jul 2008
I have read this book quite quickly as I found it very interesting.It is well researched and very readable for a lay person like me. An essential read for people who are interested in the future!

Up to Michael Wood's Usual Standards, 04 Jun 2008
I am an avid history reader, but before I read this book I knew only a rough outline of Indian history - perhaps even that's an exageration! So for me much of this was new and exciting. As usual, Wood's enthusiasm and writing skills make his work a pleasure to read, and also gives a real sense of the place and people.

I particularly enjoyed the first chapter looking at the earliest prehistoric times, especially the section on the fire cults and mantra based rituals that could go back almost as long as mankind has walked the earth. Mind boggling.

India is such a rich, interesting and diverse country that it is far beyond the scope of a single volume to cover everything important in sufficient detail, but as a sweeping overview full of colour and interest this book is a real gem.

Good and bad, 11 May 2008
The research done by Michael wood is quite substantial. I found the story of British Occupation in India slightly disappointing as I would have expected much more detail, but understandably time and editing rules. I also find it disappointing that not enough is commented on the effects of partition in Bengal. Too much is always commented on over the effects on Punjab, but those who have lived through the effects of partition in Bengal cannot relate to the complete ignorance of the region.
All in all I have enjoyed the series immensely and I would definitely recommend it for people (including a lot of Indians) who want to know a bit more about India .

Truly fascinating history, 08 Sep 2007
Michael Wood has done it again - brought a relatively little known period of history to life in thrilling fashion. This is totally absorbing and the pictures are absolutely stunning. Highly recommended.

India Explored, 29 Aug 2007
I've always found Michael Wood's books full of passion and insight and after watching his spectacular programme on Friday, I looked this up online immediately. I've just read it cover to cover (in one sitting!) and was relieved to find that what Michael Wood shows so elegantly on screen....is just as good in print! There is so much about ancient Indian history that gets overlooked and I would recommend this to anyone looking for a thorough, in depth account. I found it just as impressive as his other books, but really enjoyed the journey aspect to this - beautiful scene setting and pictures that make it feel like an epic.

Less words, more facts needed, 24 Aug 2007
What may be wonderful TV does not transfer well to the written page.A sweeping view of Indian history becomes bogged down in pretty turgid accounts of obscure emperors about whom very little is known. Michael Wood's tremendous enthusiasm rapidly starts to grate on my nerves.The book would have befitted from drastic editing and proof reading. One practical suggestion would be a reduction in the repetitive use of the adjective "great" to describe everything under the Indian Sun. For Michael Wood, all things are "great", from temples to civilisations to religions to ideas.The books contains some magnificent photographs, but the captions tell us very little.A gushing, journalistic style of writing does not do justice to the needs of those who seek to know and understand something of what makes up the identity of a country which fascinates so many of us.

Prejudiced, 08 Dec 2008
Having really enjoyed White Mughals I opened this book with anticipation which was not to be realised. In his previous book I saw Dalrymple did not like the Evangelicals who gained control of The East India Company. Here his dislike really shows. He simplisticly seems to put them as the cause of the mutiny and the encouragers of brutal reprisals. Other sources do not agree. In his Urdu book, Asbab-e Baghawat-e Hind (Causes of the Indian Mutiny),[25] Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan asserted
"I believe that there was but one primary cause of the rebellion, the others being merely incidental and arising out of it ... [T]he Natives of India, without perhaps a single exception, blame the Government for having deprived them of their position and dignity and for keeping them down ... Was not the Government aware that the Natives of the very highest rank trembled before its officers, and were in daily fear of suffering the greatest insults and indignities at their hands?" The resulting atrocities would make Cromwell in Ireland appear to be a model of military rectitude.

In his previous book there was one character whose story held the narrative together. The last emperor holds no such fascination. Despite the rave reviews my interest was not held.



A must read, 03 Sep 2008
Dalrymple produces fantastically readable books and this history of 1857 is no exception. This, is perhaps one of the few histories written I English that attempts to use Urdu sources (the other notable book that does so is Amaresh Misra's War of Civilisations). However, Dalrymple doesn't make as extensive use of Urdu and Persian sources as he could have and he is over reliant on Ghalib and one or two others to portray the social history of the mutiny. However the book is still a wonderful read bursting with information and it attempts to portray a balanced view of the events. Dalrymple interweaves contemporary sources with his text masterfully and his inclusion and discussion of some of the poetry of the time makes for a most welcome distraction. Similarly the chapter where he discusses pre-mutiny Delhi is perhaps the most powerful, at least to any Indian Muslim, and it is almost unbearable to think of the city that we have now lost.

This is by no means a full account of the mutiny, the book concentrates mainly on events in Delhi and the life of the last Emperor. However it is a most welcome addition to the mutiny literature and required reading for anyone with even a casual interest in the history of India.


Superb picture of Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857, 08 Aug 2008
This magnificent book is based on Persian and Urdu documents in India's National Archives. It vividly portrays Mughal Delhi and its destruction in 1857. The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II (1775-1862), was at the heart of a court of great brilliance, home of `the greatest literary renaissance in modern Indian history'. Architectural historian James Ferguson called his palace `the most splendid palace in the world'.

Dalrymple shows that the Uprising resulted from the Raj's growing racism and hatred, its `steady crescendo of insensitivity'. Its arrogant schemes to impose Evangelical Christianity and Christian laws on India `ushered in the most obnoxious phase of colonialism'.

The uprising was `along distinct class lines', with workers to the fore. It was the most serious armed challenge to imperialism in the 19th century, posed to the world's greatest military power. Dalrymple notes the rebels' military, strategic, administrative, logistical and financial failings and their war crimes. But the accusations of rape by the rebels were false: the official inquiry found not a single case of rape; the only mass rapes were by British soldiers after the reconquest of Delhi.

He reveals for the first time `the full scale of the viciousness and brutality of the British response', as detailed in the records of the revived British administration. "The orders were to shoot every soul. ... It was literally murder ... Heaven knows I feel no pity ..." wrote British officer Edward Vibart. Colonel A. R. D. Mackenzie boasted that we "exterminated them as men kill snakes wherever they meet them." After killing three unarmed captive princes, Captain William Hodson wrote to his sister, "I am not cruel, but I confess I did enjoy the opportunity of ridding the earth of these wretches."

Lieutenant Charles Griffiths wrote of John Clifford, the former collector of Gurgaon, "He shook my hands, saying that he had put to death all he had come across, not excepting women and children, and from his excited manner and the appearance of his dress - which was covered with blood stains - I quite believe he told the truth." Governor-General Lord Canning told Queen Victoria that the British forces displayed `a rabid and indiscriminate vindictiveness'.

Palmerston said that Delhi should be deleted from the map, `levelled to the ground'. British forces sacked, looted and emptied Delhi and massacred great swathes of its people. Much of the palace and its surrounding areas were razed. Most of its leading inhabitants were killed or transported to die in the Raj's new Andaman Islands camp for 10,000 prisoners. As far as the Mughal elite were concerned, the British response was `approaching a genocide' and `would today be classified as grisly war crimes'.

Dalrymple sums up, "That massacre of the inhabitants of Delhi, commanded and justified in the eyes of Victorian Evangelicals by their reading of the Christian scriptures. ... `In the city no one's life was safe,' wrote Muin ud-Din Husain Khan. `All able-bodied men who were seen were taken for rebels and shot.' Ghalib, who had disliked the sepoys from the beginning, was now no less horrified by the barbarity of the returning British. `The victors killed all whom they found on the streets,' he wrote in Dastanbuy. `When the angry lions entered the town, they killed the helpless and weak and they burned their houses. Mass slaughter was rampant and streets were filled with horror. It may be that such atrocities always occur after conquest.'"



The Last Mughal's Pollyanna, 23 Jan 2008
The first rule of history is not to take sides, one that William Dalrymple breaks almost on the first page.

Attempting to replace the existing foreign ruling class of India with themselves, the British caused resentment that boiled over in 1857 into a full scale uprising. As the British and their Indian allies tried to put down the uprising both sides were the victims of, and the perpetrators of massacres, and both had their heroes and their villains.

Sadly Dalrymple undermines his detailed research by almost ignoring the massacres of Europeans and Christian converts and the culpability of the Mughal court in them while reporting in detail any British wrongdoing.

This is a good book ruined by the author's prejudices.


the last mughal, 23 Jan 2008
I have now read every single book ever published by William Dalrymple. I would be hard put to name a favourite as each one of them is something of a masterpiece in its own right. The Last Mughal must rate among the very best of Dalrymple's work and indeed must rank as one of the finest on the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Most accounts of the Mutiny are centred around the British forces gathered outside the walls of Delhi. This book gives a unique insight into what was happening inside the walls in the weeks and months leading up to the British invasion and the aftermath.
Dalrymple's writing of history is, in a sense, unique. The Last Mughal reads like a rivetting thriller without ever compromising on fact or scholarship. The author has a profound appreciation of his subject. For anyone with even a passing interest in Indian or British colonial history, a must read.


Doesn't quite do this profound man the justice he deserves, 24 Jul 2008
Sadly I was a little disappointed with this. After watching Richard Attenborough's epic with Ben Kingsley, I was so inspired that I had to read more about this inspirational man, so I went straight to the library to get his autobiography.

When will I learn?! I'm not a big fan of autobiographies as, no matter how interesting the person, they tend to be dull and tedious, concentrating on the minutiae, rather than the overall bigger picture. As autobiographies go, this is a strange one. It is what it says on the cover - a series of brief descriptions of his many experiments with the principles of Satya (truth), Ahimsa (non-violence), Religion and Diet. It also charts his journeys through South Africa and India and his dealings with the Governments of the time, pioneering the principle of Satyagraha (mass civil disobedience). There are gaps, however, which was annoying as a reader when the Author declines to describe a particular event, but refers you to another of his books. However, Gandhi writes exquisitely, and his use of language is exemplary. In this respect it was a pleasure to read. Credit must also go to the translator of course, Mahadev Desai.

The theme which resonated most with me was, strangely, his experiments with religion. Strangely, as I'm an atheist. His quest for a better understanding of all religions is admirable. Perhaps if religious leaders all over the world were to be as reasonable and pragmatic as Gandhi, we might not have so many wars based on religion. Gandhi might not have agreed with all principles from every religion, but the very fact that he was willing to acknowledge their existence makes him a better man than most. India and the Indian people have a baffling number of religions and languages. It was in