---
product_id: 63697778
title: "Inglorious Empire: what the British did to India"
price: "RM163"
currency: MYR
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reviews_count: 12
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region: Malaysia
---

# Inglorious Empire: what the British did to India

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## Description

Inglorious Empire: what the British did to India [Tharoor, Shashi] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Inglorious Empire: what the British did to India

Review: Excellent! Describes British impositions on India but is weak on reasons why the British succeeded. - This is an excellent polemic and intellectual critique of the British colonial looting of India. It describes in horrifying detail what colonialism really was: the exploitation of a land for the benefit of the colonizers at the expense of the colonized. The book discusses the many unfair impositions of the British on the Indians: the overt discriminatory racism, the taxation, the creation of import and export tariffs for the benefit of British manufacturers and traders, the forced deindustrialization or prevention of industrial development of the country, the famines, and the political subjugation of the country. I thought the book, though, paid insufficient attention to how the British were able to occupy a huge and populace country such as India. To a certain extent, I think it was a coincidence or combination of events that happened to occur at the same time. The Mogul dynasty and central government collapsed, and India was invaded by the Persians, just when the British East India Company and the French went to war all over the world, including in India. The author (Shashi Tharoor) also, I think, misjudges the significance and effects of the European Industrial Revolution and the superior European military performance at the time. By the mid- to late 18th century, a European army and navy could defeat a much larger Indian or Asian army or navy. The European colonization or seizure of Africa and Asia occurred because of a huge superiority in military and industrial technology. To this day, if one country possesses a military or technological - industrial advantage over another country, it will use it for it's own benefit. The people of India, China, and Africa found this out. Another excellent book on this subject is "The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire" by Dalrymple (2019).
Review: The real history book of India - This book fixed my knowledge of the history of India. Mr Tharoor is undoubtedly a master of words, but makes this an engrossing read. Some paragraphs and chapters will make you think for long periods due to their profound nature. My copy of the book is now getting borrowed across the world, currently in India and hopefully will travel more before coming back. The book's contents also started a virtual book club to share the rage and frustration created by knowing the reality and how we have been deceived so far by false narratives. Thanks to Mr Tharoor and his team for the research and fact based story telling that makes this a keeper. Highly recommended if you have the appetite for the truth.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #206,592 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #27 in India History #72 in Colonialism & Post-Colonialism #159 in Asian Politics |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (2,395) |
| Dimensions  | 6 x 1 x 9.25 inches |
| Edition  | Reprint |
| ISBN-10  | 1947534300 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1947534308 |
| Item Weight  | 2.31 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 336 pages |
| Publication date  | May 8, 2018 |
| Publisher  | Scribe US |

## Images

![Inglorious Empire: what the British did to India - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81a247poC-L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent! Describes British impositions on India but is weak on reasons why the British succeeded.
*by B***. on October 18, 2020*

This is an excellent polemic and intellectual critique of the British colonial looting of India. It describes in horrifying detail what colonialism really was: the exploitation of a land for the benefit of the colonizers at the expense of the colonized. The book discusses the many unfair impositions of the British on the Indians: the overt discriminatory racism, the taxation, the creation of import and export tariffs for the benefit of British manufacturers and traders, the forced deindustrialization or prevention of industrial development of the country, the famines, and the political subjugation of the country. I thought the book, though, paid insufficient attention to how the British were able to occupy a huge and populace country such as India. To a certain extent, I think it was a coincidence or combination of events that happened to occur at the same time. The Mogul dynasty and central government collapsed, and India was invaded by the Persians, just when the British East India Company and the French went to war all over the world, including in India. The author (Shashi Tharoor) also, I think, misjudges the significance and effects of the European Industrial Revolution and the superior European military performance at the time. By the mid- to late 18th century, a European army and navy could defeat a much larger Indian or Asian army or navy. The European colonization or seizure of Africa and Asia occurred because of a huge superiority in military and industrial technology. To this day, if one country possesses a military or technological - industrial advantage over another country, it will use it for it's own benefit. The people of India, China, and Africa found this out. Another excellent book on this subject is "The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire" by Dalrymple (2019).

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The real history book of India
*by S***P on March 9, 2025*

This book fixed my knowledge of the history of India. Mr Tharoor is undoubtedly a master of words, but makes this an engrossing read. Some paragraphs and chapters will make you think for long periods due to their profound nature. My copy of the book is now getting borrowed across the world, currently in India and hopefully will travel more before coming back. The book's contents also started a virtual book club to share the rage and frustration created by knowing the reality and how we have been deceived so far by false narratives. Thanks to Mr Tharoor and his team for the research and fact based story telling that makes this a keeper. Highly recommended if you have the appetite for the truth.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Written with knowledge and depth
*by N***S on April 2, 2021*

Shashi Tharoor became one of my favorite authors when I 'discovered' his novel, The Great Indian Novel, which is a clever, contemporary retelling of the Mahabharata by substituting the epic's well-known characters with India's political characters in the 1900s when Indian freedom fighters were trying to rid the country of the British. I trust Shashi Tharoor's knowledge of imperialism, especially as it relates to India. At the time this book was written, there were not too many books out there critical of British imperialism. In 'Inglorious Empire' not only does Dr. Tharoor criticize the British empire, but also lay out the details of how the British essentially destroyed one of human history's most advanced and prosperous societies. This book is written with knowledge and depth, but also in an engaging manner. I highly recommend it to anyone wishing to understand why most of the countries colonized by European imperialists became so impoverished in the past few centuries.

## Frequently Bought Together

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*Product available on Desertcart Malaysia*
*Store origin: MY*
*Last updated: 2026-03-20*