Thy Hand, Great Anarch! India: 1921-1952 [Paperback]

Nirad Chaundhuri (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to PW , this second volume of Chaudhuri's memoirs is "a courageous, provocative, sometimes provoking but unquestionably major book by a fiery polymath." His fundamental thesis is that the British Raj in its 19th-century heyday brought the breath of life to Indian, and more specifically Bengali, culture, and that there is more corruption and lawlessness in India now than there was then.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Chaudhuri (1897-), author of Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (1951), needs no introduction. Thy Hand is a continuation of his sweeping autobiography and covers his work career in India as a clerk, journalist, and broadcaster. He faithfully records how the independence movement in India affected him and makes the reader feel part of the action. Though few will agree with all Chaudhuri says, rare will be the reader who will not be stimulated, challenged, and forced to reflect upon the events of the 20th century. A gold mine of data on the period covered, yet presented in very personal terms. Most highly recommended. Donald Clay Johnson, Univ. of Minnesota Lib., Minneapolis
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub (Sd) (October 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201196069
• ISBN-13: 978-0201196061
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,469,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Losing Grip, May 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thy Hand, Great Anarch!: India Nineteen Twenty-One to Nineteen Fifty-Two (Hardcover)

This sequel to "The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian" clearly shows the author losing his grip on both the English language and his sense of structure. This book is far inferior to its predecessor in quality. Some gems are: the portrait of Sarat Bose, the analysis of the Bengali Revolutionary Movement of the 1930s. The chief value of this book is the deliberate departure from the standard mythology of the Indian Independence Movement, and first hand experience of some of its leading lights.

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Another Indophobic work of the author, splendidly executed., April 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thy Hand, Great Anarch!: India Nineteen Twenty-One to Nineteen Fifty-Two (Hardcover)

<i>Thy Hand, Great Anarch!</i> comes to us from the veteran Anglophile and Indophobe Nirad C. Chowdhury, at the heels of his earlier masterpiece <i>The autobiography of an unknown Indian</i>. Unlike the first book, Choudhury is nolonger unknown but his vitriolic pontifications against Indian self-rule continues in this book. After having finished his earlier Indian years with the first book, Choudhury goes on to praise the British rule and continues to lament the demise of the "great British Empite"(sic) in this volume, this time from his dreamland of England. Different name, greater number of pages, same foul stench and the same old ideas. To his credit, Chaudhury proves he is still the masterful craftsman he showed as he was in the autobiography and continue to dazzle us with well written intellegent prose. Perhaps he is the best practitioner of English composition living in England and the best 19th century-style British Gentleman left in the UK.