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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent synopsis of the British experience in India,
By
This review is from: The Men Who Ruled India (Paperback)
Too bad this book is a sleeper. I had not heard of it except per chance happened to stumble upon it in a bookstore in Bangalore, India.
This book is an abridgement of the author's two volume work. The writing is excellent and brisk. A note of caution to fellow Americans. The writing style is decidedly British and at first may seem a bit stilted and awkward. But one soon gets used to it. Mr. Mason's analysis of history is excellent. After a brief overview of major events the heart of the book is the analyses of said events. Though one may not agree with every conclusion; there is much food for thought. In my opinion the main legacy of the British was that of creating a nation by amalgamating a cacaphony of feifdoms and districts. Prior to 1740, the Mughul rule, contrary to popular belief, did not encompass India as a whole but only some northern areas and those were disparate and ruled by ad hoc "laws". Akbar tried to implement uniform laws and revenue estimations but met with marginal success. Prior to the moghuls there were empires such as the Ashokan but these never emcompassed the India we know today. To date this is the BEST one volume work on the British experience in India. Highly recommended.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Chronicle of the Indian Civil Service,
By
This review is from: The Men Who Ruled India (Hardcover)
This book presents the Englishman's point of view about their time spent in India, chronicling the life and times of the British officers of the Indian civil service. It brings out the wonderful traits of the English character, so woefully missing today, that enabled them to build and run an empire the likes of which the world has not seen.
This book immediately brings to the reader's mind the vivid contrast between the well-governed districts and provinces of the British era and the ill-governed ones of the India of today; the scrupulously honest British civil service and the corrupt Indian establishment. The book highlights some of the wonderful gifts of the British empire to India - a full-fledged political unity, a network of railheads from which no village was more than 50 kms away (at the beginning of the 20th century, India had more than 30,000 km of railway track; in contrast China had less than 3000), separation of judicial and executive functions of the state, settlement of land revenue and keeping of meticulous land records (in Moghul and Maratha territories, the land revenue was at least 1/3 rd and 1/4th of the produce; it was 1/8th in British India), crackdown on Thugee and efforts to reform customs like sati, human sacrifice and child marriage. However, the book is less than fair to the Indian movement for independence. The author has used unjustifiably strong language to describe the actions of Nanaji Peshwa, Tilak and even Shivaji. For Indians, this is a good book to get a perspective of events from the other side - something that has been smudged by years of silly Congress propaganda. For example, the timing and motive of that most thoughtless and inane movement - the Quit India movement of 1942. Indians have been conditioned to think of the British period as a period of darkness, but the fact is that there was order and probity that was absent in the Mughal, Maratha and Sikh territories and is, indeed, missing in India today. It may perhaps be preferable to live in anarchy, as Mr.Gandhi implored the British to leave India to, but it is painful nonetheless. Any period of foreign rule evokes strong feelings, but to a nation firmly steeped in mediaeval times, British rule was a bitter way of bringing the fruits of the European renaissance and industrial revolution. Certainly, British imperialism was benign as compared to Portuguese, Japanese, German, Italian or Russian imperialism. The tragedy is that they stayed longer than necessary, spoiled a lot many good things about India and handed over the reins to a class of Indians that did not understand India and tried to ape the western nations' overtly mental and materialistic way to progress.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for anybody interested in British India,
This review is from: The Men Who Ruled India (Hardcover)
This books takes you into the lives of the men who "Governed" India and later ruled India. As the book progresses you will notice the change in the governance style and attitude (towards India and Indians) changes.
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