Shashi Tharoor served for twenty-nine years at the UN, culminating as Under-Secretary-General. Chapter by chapter, the book convincingly demolishes the nostalgic, self-serving arguments voiced by imperial apologists.” Times Literary Supplement comments on this book: “Inglorious Empire both reiterates long-standing, persuasive and well-founded critiques of the British Raj’s countless exploitative activities and the damage done under colonialism, and expresses surprise and disappointment that such basic points still need to be made anew today. In this bold and incisive reassessment of colonialism, Tharoor exposes to devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britain’s stained Indian legacy. He goes on to show how Britain’s Industrial Revolution was founded on India’s deindustrialization and the destruction of its textile industry. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalized racism, and caused millions to die from starvation.īritish imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes on and demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial “gift”―from the railways to the rule of law―was designed in Britain’s interests alone.

By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. In the eighteenth century, India’s share of the world economy was as large as Europe’s. Tehran-based Qatreh Publishing has released 'Inglorious Empire’ in 470 pages and 400 copies. In this bold and incisive reassessment of colonialism, Tharoor exposes to devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britain's stained Indian legacy.The book which received mixed reviews and the 2017 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award has been translated into Persian by Behnaz Abedi. He goes on to show how Britain's Industrial Revolution was founded on India's deindustrialisation, and the destruction of its textile industry. British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial 'gift' - from the railways to the rule of law - was designed in Britain's interests alone. The Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die from starvation.

An essential read' Financial TimesIn the eighteenth century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's.īy 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. laying bare the grim, and high, cost of the British Empire for its former subjects. The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller on India's experience of British colonialism, by the internationally-acclaimed author and diplomat Shashi Tharoor'Tharoor's impassioned polemic slices straight to the heart of the darkness that drives all empires.

Inglorious empire by shashi tharoor