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Most of this book is interesting, but it is very cursory either as a biography of Warren Hastings or as a history of the beginning of the Raj. It contains a lot of marginally relevant information that I enjoyed reading, but which doesn't contribute enough towards the alleged main purpose of the book to explain the number of pages devoted to it. If this were an exhaustive multi-volume work, I might understand why it includes so much information on George Bogle, Robert Oppenheimer and Fanny Burney, but as it is, the biographical information on Hastings is skimpy and some of it is repetitive. There are two somewhat contradictory stories of one duel, separated by a number of pages without any apparent recognition that they don't quite fit together.
The book opens with a chapter on Bogle's trip to Tibet at the direction of Hastings. This shows something about Hastings' activities in India and his breadth of mind, but Bernstein carefully chronicles Bogle's childhood, family, etc., in a surprising amount of detail. Intriguing, but not precisely part of the main story.
Hasting's early life is chronicled in appropriate detail, but once he reaches adulthood, I am baffled as to exactly what he did and why he was made Governor-General. The story moves in a series of brief hops from Hastings' first employment to India quickly to his quarrels during his administration with other members of the Company. There is very little detail in between. Bernstein chronicles the events that would figure in his trial, but I am left with no coherent picture of Hastings' tenure nor his significance in the shift from the East India Tea Company's dealings with India to the official takeover by the British government. I found most of these chapters rather dull because I could make little sense of them. Were Hastings' activities actually important in the shift, or was he, as Bernstein seems to suggest in his discussion of the trials, simply seized upon as a pawn to pursue political ends that had little to do with him as an individual?
Fanny Burney seems to occupy more of the book that Mrs. Hastings or Eliza Hitchcock, Hasting's goddaughter and supposed illegitimate daughter, who had a continuing relationship with him. I have learned far more about the latter from biographies of Jane Austen, Eliza's cousin and sister-in-law. Burney's life is carefully explained in unnecessary, though enjoyable detail. It is interesting that she wrote about the trial, but why this requires more than a passing reference is beyond me.
Bernstein compares the treatment of Hastings to the travails of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Why, I am not sure. I am an American, and 52; frankly, while I have heard a great deal about Oppenheimer and the atom bomb, I was totally unaware of his problems with Congress. They occurred when I was a small child. If Bernstein thinks that he is illuminating Hastings' situation by comparing it with Oppenheimer's, I believe that he is mistaken: I don't think that enough people are aware of the details of the latter case. Perhaps Bernstein thinks that we ought to be more knowledgeable, but that's another book. (And that book would be American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.)
The explanation of the trial itself is interesting, especially for its essential pointlessness. Bernstein seems oddly puzzled that after four years, Hastings changed his mind about how he would like the trial conducted - I think it was obvious, Hastings wanted to get it over with! The trial was conducted in small installments over a period of seven years with the result that very few of the Lords determining Hastings' fate had heard all the evidence. I read this part and the epilogue on his latter years with great interest.
I can't say reading the book was a waste of time: there was a lot of interesting material. It was a disappointment as a biography, however, which was why I wanted to read it.
- Hardcover: 335 pages
- Publisher: Ivan R. Dee; First Edition edition (March 20, 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1566632811
- ISBN-13: 978-1566632812
- Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Average Customer Review: 2 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,605,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3628 in Historical British Biographies
- #1887 in India History
- #397 in Historical India & South Asia Biographies
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