Customer Reviews

Women of the Raj: The Mothers, Wives, and Daughters of the British Empire in India

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Maybe it was because it was the summer and I was looking for a "light read," but I really enjoyed this book. If you're looking for a scholarly book on this subject you may want to look elsewhere, because this is primarily a social/cultural history. The book is divided into lots of small chapters, each covering a particular theme, such as: taking the ship from Britain to India, housekeeping, courtship and marriage, bringing up children, social activities, etc. The author has filled the book with funny tidbits. For example, in the chapter on taking the ship over to India we learn that, due to the lack of laundry facilities, British women were advised to bring their oldest underwear with them. That way, when the clothing was dirty they could just chuck it overboard! In the chapter on courtship and marriage we find out that India was a "seller's market." Men outnumbered women by three-to-one. Women enjoyed all of the attention and loved to flirt. Other women loved to gossip about the women that loved to flirt- hence, nasty nicknames abounded, such as "Treacle Tart" and "Betty-Bed-And-Breakfast." In the section covering coping with the weather we find out that women who arrived in 80 degree weather, thinking it was the summer, were in for a nasty shock when the "real" summer hit and temperatures soared to 110-120 farenheit. Ladies and Gentlemen were still expected to don formal attire for supper (after all, we are talking about the British!). How to beat the heat? They put a huge block of ice under the dinner table- a form of primitive air conditioning. Mrs. MacMillan does have her serious moments: she talks about race relations, snobbery, and prejudice. We also learn about the caste system. The Brits were quite put out that, as foreigners, they were lumped together with the Untouchables. Quite a shock, that! The book also has a lot of interesting photographs taken in the late 1800's and early 1900's. All in all, highly recommended.

I tripped over this book while looking for something completely different, but I'm glad I did. Mrs. MacMillan does a wonderful job of describing the history of British women living in India during the colonial period, without being dry, boring, or stuffy. I love history-related books, but so many are boring, and read like textbooks, no matter how interesting the subject matter, that a book like this reminds me of why I love history. In fact, I read "Women of the Raj" in one sitting.

Although written about women, Mrs. MacMillan avoids burdening her work with modern feminist blather, and explains the hows and whys of women's behavior during the Raj in relation to the society of the time. She covers the challenges women faced in coming to an unknown place and cultures (even after a century of ruling India, the general populace of Britian didn't necessarily know much about actually living there), raising children, relationships with the native populations, and much more.

Even though my knowledge of the British Raj was limited to what I've learned in world history overview classes and from reading Kipling, I never lost track of how the discussions fit into wider history and culture, thanks to the good job the author did at fitting her discussions into these contexts. My only complaint, and a small one at that, is that a map or two of India, showing major cities and stations, would have been helpful.

As an Indian, I've always known about the Indians' view of the Raj, so it's very interesting to read about the Britishers' views and their lives in India. "Women Of The Raj" is very informative and provides every detail about their lives. As the book focuses on women, the reader encounters all their social and domestic problems and finds him/herself wondering over and over again how anyone could live like that! Even when the Raj was at its peak, these women faced a great many difficulties. This is the first book I've ever read about the Raj and it has inspired me to read many more. Highly recommended.

Women of the Raj gives me the first person accounts of history that I enjoy so much. I didn't really know much of the history of the British Empire in India, outside of the common knowledge of Gandhi and maybe the books of Rumer Godden. This book allows you not only to understand the history, but you understand it from the point of view of the women. I love Asian history, first person sources and women's history, so this is perfect for me. From when the British and the French fought over India, till the closing days of the Raj after World War Two, this really gives you a detailed history of India under English Rule. It tells us about how the Europeans dealt with the climate, the diseases, the food, the hierarchy, the dangers, the natives, and family life.

Margaret MacMillan has penned a book that is as entertaining as it is informative. Focusing on the lives of British women who either accompanied their husbands to India or voyaged to the subcontinent for other purposes--perhaps to find a husband or to become a domestic or do charitable work, the author paints a vivid picture of women's lives from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries of the British ventures in India, which began with the East India Company and culminated in the Raj.

Having been brought up on a diet of Kipling, the Godden sisters, and later, M.M. Kaye, I once had a rather romantic notion of what it must be like to be a memsahib--such thoughts usually came to me as a teenager, cleaning up my messy room, imagining how lovely it would be to have "all those servants." After reading Ms. MacMillan's fascinating account, based upon actual women's letters and memoirs, I can relegate my teenage dreams properly to the realm of misguided fantasy.

Women had to cope with unimaginable annoyances. They suffered the tragic loss of children, either to sudden illness or to forced separation by the necessity of sending them Home at an early age for education. The voyage out and the journey to the final destination could be both uncomfortable and dangerous. And the amount of baggage, clothes and other paraphernalia that one had to drag around, especially in the 19th century, was truly astounding (eleven camel-loads were recommended by "The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook"); and all those petticoats and corsets, not to mention the stodgy multi-course meals in all that heat, must have been enervating. As for servants, there were so many rules of caste and custom that the woman of the house had to undergo a juggling act to keep up with them and not make dreadful gaffes. Women were not only circumscribed by rigid social mores, but they were also subjected to stultifying boredom (I fear I would have been one of those women who lamentably "let down . . . the Raj and the British Empire" [237]).

"Women of the Raj" is a splendid book that gives us a glimpse into the intrepid women who constituted "the Mothers, Wives, and Daughters of the British Empire in India;" the women who dwelt in a fascinating but tenuous bubble that burst with Indian independence.

Women of the Raj is a fascinating portrait of two cultures in collision: that of the Indians, and that of the British, who occupied India in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. More specifically, this book is about the British women who populated the Raj, from the time they arrived in India until the time they left in 1947. The book explores how women thought, what they ate and wore, and how they interacted with one another. It's a study of history that gets overlooked in favor of more "important" things, and which I'm glad was covered in this book. The book draws on letters and nonfiction and fiction books by a variety of authors from three centuries.

What I thought was fascinating was the British attitude towards the people they governed, and the attitude the Indians had towards their rulers. The caste system was complicated, something that the British didn't understand and never evne tried to understand most of the time. I love how the author brings the lives of the women of the Raj to the forefront of Angle-Indian history (she had family who lived there). The British women who lived in India tried to balance the best of two worlds: being a traditional housewife while surviving the climate and culture of India. I thought it was fascinating how the women tried to re-create English society in their adopted homes, right down to social etiquette and the food they ate.

Many of the women hated living in India, but many more enjoyed their stays in a country that was completely foreign to them in every way. In all, I great study of Anglo-Indian history, though I would have liked MacMillan to have talked more about the women who fell outside the traditional role of "memsahib," or the other traditional housewives of the time. But a must read for anyone who likes Indian history, or Victorian history, or the history of women.

I'm not finished reading _Women of the Raj_ yet, so maybe I'm not qualified to review it, but I am enjoying this book. After reading some fiction about India--Paul Scott's Raj Quartet, A Passage to India by E.M. Forster and _The Seige of Krishnapur_ by J. G. Farrell, as well as Jan Morris' history of the British Empire, I wanted to learn more and this book is nicely filling in the gaps in my knowledge. Margaret MacMillan's writing is clear and quickly grabs the reader's interest. I was worried that I was going to have to wade through something dry and scholarly, so this book is a nice surprise. The British became a presence in India in the 16th century and the two cultures have a long and fascinating history.

The author knows her subject. Her female ancestors were woman of the Raj. The detail included is the sort of thing I didn't get in the stories I love--The Far Pavillions--Shadow of the Moon--Zemindar, etc. And some wonderful pictures are included to give visual emphasis. This book is a keeper.

If you are a History buff and into the Raj...this is a must have book. History is so much more than the story of generals and battles. Very interesting social history. Enjoy!

I wasn't expecting this to be a scholarly work. And it shouldn't be. It is a good read about the women who made the bulk of the Raj. Most of the featured women travelled to India to be the wives of the officers and the soldiers and were known as the fishing fleet in those days. Author has collected data from these various women and combined to form a book which is historical as well as fascinating. For one, we know that most women got bored and wanted to eagerly return to England. But once they had done so they regretted ever returning! They missed all the servants and all the pomp which India had to offer. For most of these women could not have imagined such a life in their own homeland.

Life in India among the officers was very much based on levels of authority. Such things were also kept in mind by their wives, if their husbands had to progress. Only the most eccentric or the daring or the rich could afford to forget these levels.

A wonderfully evocative book.