Holy hell, what a ride. If I had one word to describe it, it would be lush. From the way that events 1000s of miles start having knock on effects, to characters that are wholly sympathetic warts and all. The sheer tragedy of it all and the horror interspersed with the comedy. I’ve not really read another non fiction book that can hit all the highs and lows of a fiction book.
Some key takeaways:
1) If you have an Indian secretary called Mohan Lal, and he’s telling you something is a really bad idea, listen to him. If not the first time at least maybe once in the next couple dozen instances
2) Getting passed on for a role because you don’t have enough seniority or social status, even though you’re the most qualified, fucking sucks. Makes you wonder how the imperial machine hung on for so long
3) >!Lady Sales is the fucking boss. Survives being captured, an earthquake, being buried in rubble, the Afghan wilderness in the freezing winter, getting shot at by snipers, takes charge when all the generals have thrown in the towel and leads the men from captivity to retaking a fort against an entrenched enemy!<
4) >!I’ve never seen such a mix of stupidity, arrogance and general manbabyness than in Major general John Shelton. Even his fellow prisoners hated him!<
5) The British empire probably never had a plan of divide and rule. They didn’t need a plan. They were already so divided to begin with, in a conflicted and clusterfuck of a bureaucratic system, that it confused the fuck out of their enemies and allies, and managed to cause enough chaos all by itself.
It’s written by William Dalrymple. Anyone else read it? I’m keen to know your thoughts. My dad has Anarchy by the same author and he loves it, so I will definitely be borrowing that. White Mugals is another book from the same guy, that’s on my radar.
by Cacharadon
4 Comments
At first I thought you were talking about The Return of the King by Tolkien and just messed up typing the title. But then in reading your text, I realized that wasn’t it. But you didn’t give the author, so could you clarify?
“For Frodo”…wait a minute wrong book.
I read 2 paragraphs before I realized were weren’t talking about Lord of the Rings. Your post would’ve been more interesting if you had made it about Lord of the Rings.
The ideal history book. You learn something and its so tremendously entertaining it reads like a novel.