‘Tharoor convincingly demolishes some of the more persistent myths about Britain’s supposedly civilising mission in India … charts the destruction of pre-colonial systems of government by the British and their ubiquitous ledgers and rule books … The statistics are worth repeating.’ - Victor Mallet, Financial Times Democracy, the Press, the Parliamentary System and the Rule of Law Did the British Give India Political Unity?ģ. In this bold and incisive reassessment of colonialism, Tharoor exposes to devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britain’s stained Indian legacy.Ģ. He goes on to show how Britain’s Industrial Revolution was founded on India’s deindustrialisation, and the destruction of its textile industry. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised 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.
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