roshk99 's review for:

White Mughals by William Dalrymple

4.0

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The premise of this book is simple, it relates the story of a relationship between a British Resident and a Hyderbadi Begum. But it is so much more than just a Romeo-Juliet love story. Dalrymple uses this relationship to illustrate the complex political, religious, and social environment of late-1700s/early 1800s India. An extensively researched book, he gives us the background of the initial relationship between the British and India, which is fundamentally different from the relations that we know from the later part of the 1800s and early 1900s. It is amazing to see that a seemingly simple and small decision can have political and historical ramifications for centuries. This is an excellently composed book that makes reading pure history entertaining and interesting.