This is the first Dalrymple book that I have read so far. I must say that I intend now to read all his books. He is a historian. These books are his research projects. They are extremely thorough and well researched. They might not have revealed anything stunningly new that past historians did not know but no one wrote history like he does. You read it like a story. As if it was a novel. This makes history interesting to the general public. I am sure many young school students who have read Dalrymple at an early age would want to grow up to be historians.
I studied in a school where the worst teachers were given the task of teaching history. Most of them would ask one of us to read the book aloud and promptly go to sleep. We had a reputation for bringing out excellent science students who went to IITs and other reputable engineering or medical colleges. But our track record for producing good students who excelled in the field of humanities or liberal arts was terrible. History was just not a priority.
If history was taught like Darlymple does it would have been a different story for me.
Now, let me tell you very briefly what I thought of Anarchy. I was interested in reading the book because it promised to tell the story of how a joint stock company from London, the East India Company, could grab an entire country with millions of people (I think 200 million when they took it over) and rule it for 200 years. Well, the company did not rule for 200 years but it created the way for the crown to take over from them. Technically the company ruled it for a little over a hundred years. From the Battle of Plassey (we call it Palashi) in 1757 to a little after Sepoy Mutinee 1857.
The book is rich in research and Dalrymple quotes his original sources all the time in their original language. There is very little that Dalrymple himself says in the course of the book. The story is told mostly through other people who were present during those times. The most important chapter of the book is the Epilogue perhaps where the author talks about how the lessons of the EIC could equip us to deal with the large corporations of the modern world.
I learnt a few new things from the book. First of all and this I consider the most important - I changed my opinion about Warren Hastings. Not that I had a strong opinion about him before. To me he was just another colonialist. Reading the book I realised that we should perhaps put up a memorial for him here in Calcutta. He loved India more than he loved England. I must make it a point to read the first translation of the Gita whose introduction he wrote. I wish he had written an autobiography. There are some biographies on him that I will try to procure. The last one was written in 1935 though. Many of us know that he was impeached for his "misdeeds" in India but very few know that he was subsequently exonerated from all the charges because they were patently false. He was framed by his rival who even lost a duel with him.
Another important thing I learnt is the fact that Wellesley, who actually built the large expansionist colony grabbing bits and pieces of the empire from regional rulers like Tipu Sultan, Nizam, Scindias, Peshwas etc through deadly wars was basically funded by the Marwari money lenders of Calcutta. I am sure there will be other books on this subject. This subject is worth exploring.
What I did not like about the book was its descriptions of the gory details of various wars. The loot, torture, rape, killings are described in great gory detail. Could he avoid this? Perhaps he could but then that would probably have made it into another drab history text book. It had to be a bestseller, you see.
I studied in a school where the worst teachers were given the task of teaching history. Most of them would ask one of us to read the book aloud and promptly go to sleep. We had a reputation for bringing out excellent science students who went to IITs and other reputable engineering or medical colleges. But our track record for producing good students who excelled in the field of humanities or liberal arts was terrible. History was just not a priority.
If history was taught like Darlymple does it would have been a different story for me.
Now, let me tell you very briefly what I thought of Anarchy. I was interested in reading the book because it promised to tell the story of how a joint stock company from London, the East India Company, could grab an entire country with millions of people (I think 200 million when they took it over) and rule it for 200 years. Well, the company did not rule for 200 years but it created the way for the crown to take over from them. Technically the company ruled it for a little over a hundred years. From the Battle of Plassey (we call it Palashi) in 1757 to a little after Sepoy Mutinee 1857.
The book is rich in research and Dalrymple quotes his original sources all the time in their original language. There is very little that Dalrymple himself says in the course of the book. The story is told mostly through other people who were present during those times. The most important chapter of the book is the Epilogue perhaps where the author talks about how the lessons of the EIC could equip us to deal with the large corporations of the modern world.
I learnt a few new things from the book. First of all and this I consider the most important - I changed my opinion about Warren Hastings. Not that I had a strong opinion about him before. To me he was just another colonialist. Reading the book I realised that we should perhaps put up a memorial for him here in Calcutta. He loved India more than he loved England. I must make it a point to read the first translation of the Gita whose introduction he wrote. I wish he had written an autobiography. There are some biographies on him that I will try to procure. The last one was written in 1935 though. Many of us know that he was impeached for his "misdeeds" in India but very few know that he was subsequently exonerated from all the charges because they were patently false. He was framed by his rival who even lost a duel with him.
Another important thing I learnt is the fact that Wellesley, who actually built the large expansionist colony grabbing bits and pieces of the empire from regional rulers like Tipu Sultan, Nizam, Scindias, Peshwas etc through deadly wars was basically funded by the Marwari money lenders of Calcutta. I am sure there will be other books on this subject. This subject is worth exploring.
What I did not like about the book was its descriptions of the gory details of various wars. The loot, torture, rape, killings are described in great gory detail. Could he avoid this? Perhaps he could but then that would probably have made it into another drab history text book. It had to be a bestseller, you see.
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