Raji answers “As an Indian I find this writer's venom...”

Engelbert Humper asked this question about An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India:

As an Indian I find this writer's venom against Britain more than a bit embarrassing. Britain left India about 70 years ago and with all the resources of modern technology India could have solved its problems of poverty long ago, instead of being the world's greatest reservoir of human misery. The British did a lot of good in India and in their empire, as well as a lot of evil. United India without them? A joke.

Raji I am not sure you read the book if you feel this way because the book does not seek to offer colonialism as an excuse for post-colonial failings. It e…moreI am not sure you read the book if you feel this way because the book does not seek to offer colonialism as an excuse for post-colonial failings. It examines well-referenced data to put the colonial period into perspective. It also notes that one of the effects of 200 years of British rule is a lack of self-esteem and an attempt to identify with the coloniser. Of course, I think the way we are taught history in our schools is very much to blame for the fact that we are either Anglophones or irrational 'nationalists' and have not been able to develop a more informed perspective. (less)

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An Era of Darkness

by Shashi Tharoor

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