“[An] important book: it is about the dangers that lie in India’s future as well as the woes and glories of the past…one of India’s most articulate liberals and a leading voice of those who reject the aggressively fundamentalist strains of Hindu nationalism.”
Financial Times
“Tharoor has undoubtedly done an important work that helps people understand key difference between Hinduism and Hindutva.”
The Georgia Straight
“A profound book on one of the world's oldest and greatest religions.”
Hindustan Times
“At one point in Orhan Pamuk’s perceptive novel Snow, the protagonist Ka highlights the supreme paradox of religious mobilisation in his part of the world. Defenders of militant Islam draw upon religious vocabularies to justify their politics, without once mentioning God or faith. It is precisely the distinction between politics in the name of religion, and faith, that Shashi Tharoor in this rather charming book on Hinduism and Hindutva seeks to emphasise.”
The Hindu
Praise for Inglorious Empire:
“Rare indeed is it to come across history that is so readable and so persuasive.”
Amitav Ghosh
Praise for Inglorious Empire:
“Tharoor convincingly demolishes some of the more persistent myths about Britain’s supposedly civilizing mission in India.”
Financial Times
Praise for Inglorious Empire:
“This book burns with the power of intellect married with conviction…this is erudite, well-written, thoroughly documented and persuasive history that focuses varied sources into a coherent critique of colonialism in the Indian context. Tear up your copies of Ferguson’s neo-liberal mind rot and get angry like Tharoor.”
Sydney Morning Herald
Praise for Inglorious Empire:
“Those Brits who speak confidently about how Britain’s ‘historical and cultural ties’ to India will make it easy to strike a great new trade deal should read Mr Tharoor’s book. It would help them to see the world through the eyes of the…countries once colonized or defeated by Britain.”
Financial Times
Praise for Inglorious Empire:
“His writing is a delight and he seldom misses his target…Tharoor should be applauded for tackling an impossibly contentious subject…he deserves to be read. Indians are not the only ones who need reminding that empire has a lot to answer for.”
Literary Review
Praise for Inglorious Empire:
“Tharoor’s impassioned polemic slices straight to the heart of the darkness that drives all empires. Forceful, persuasive and blunt, he demolishes Raj nostalgia, laying bare the grim, and high, cost of the British Empire for its former subjects. An essential read.”
Nilanjana Roy, Financial Times
Praise for Inglorious Empire:
“Well-referenced and full of fascinating facts, quotes and anecdotes, Inglorious Empire is a scorching indictment of British rule in India, and of British imperialism more broadly.”
Green Left Weekly
Praise for Inglorious Empire:
“A timely reminder of the need to start teaching unromanticized colonial history in British schools. A welcome antidote to the nauseating righteousness and condescension peddled by Niall Ferguson in his 2003 book Empire.”
The Irish Times
“An influential and thought-provoking book, shedding light on many of the contradictions and anomalies of this ancient religion and its chequered history.”
The Bay
