Inglorious Empire

In the eighteenth century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had fallen to one-sixth. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire launched rebels from cannons, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalized racism, and caused millions to die of hunger. British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor questions and refutes this position by demonstrating how every supposed imperial 'gift' – from railways to the rule of law – was designed solely in Britain's interest. He further shows how Britain's Industrial Revolution was based on the deindustrialization of India and the destruction of its textile industry. In this bold and insightful reassessment of colonialism, Tharoor devastatingly reveals the ignoble reality of Britain's tainted Indian legacy.