Holmes of the Raj


Book Description

It is 1888. As Central Asia reels under the intrigues of the Great Game, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson sail to India on a secret mission in the service of Empire. The accountant of a Hindu monastery has been brutally murdered, and the head priest is the prime suspect. But as both detective and doctor soon discover, their Indian autumn has only just begun. They are plunged into a series of adventures that take them from Madras and Pondicherry to the princely courts of Hyderabad, the uncharted jungles of the Central Provinces, pine-scented Nainital, and the bustling metropolis of Calcutta. Even as Holmes unravels sinister plots, Watson busies himself helping Ronald Ross track the malaria parasite and advising a schoolboy called Dhyan Chand on the finer points of hockey. The six stories in Holmes of the Raj are delightful vignettes of life and politics in colonial India. Vithal Rajan breathes life into historical characters, as Holmes and Watson meet Lord Ripon, Madame Blavatsky, Francis Younghusband, Kipling and Kim himself, Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Ramanujan, Motilal Nehru, Tagore, Jinnah, and many, many others. Sprightly, colourful, and remarkably faithful to Conan Doyle, this is an unforgettable collection.




Sahib: The British Soldier in India 1750–1914


Book Description

Sahib is a magnificent history of the British soldier in India from Clive to the end of Empire, making full use of personal accounts from the soldiers who served in the jewel in Britain’s Imperial Crown.




The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes


Book Description

The "lost years" of Sherlock Holmes are revealed through the scroll of a Bengali scholar who traveled with the great detective in Asia.




Raj


Book Description

From the critically acclaimed author of "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" comes an unapologetic revisionist history of British rule in India. James recounts the twists and turns of imperialism and independence with a wealth of new material. 8-page photo insert.




Sherlock Holmes


Book Description

The "lost years" Sherlock Holmes are revealed through the scroll of a Bengali scholar who traveled with the great detective in Asia. 20,000 first printing.




Mirage


Book Description

In this fascinating history of the discovery, development, and exploitation of Middle East oil, an international journalist tells a largely unknown story rich in drama, conflict, and comic interludes. Illustrations.




Under the Raj


Book Description

Like other pre-colonial socio-economic formations, the profession of prostitution underwent a dramatic change in Bengal soon after the British take-over. Under the Raj explores the world of the prostitute in nineteenth century Bengal. It traces how, from the peripheries of pre-colonial Bengali rural society, they came to dominate the center-stage in Calcutta, the capital of British India--thanks to the emergence of a new clientele brought forth by the colonial order. Sumanta Banerjee examines the policies the British administration implemented to revamp the profession to suit its needs, as well as to screen its practitioners in a bid to protect its minions in the army from venereal diseases. He also analyzes the class structure within the prostitute community in nineteenth century Bengal, its complex relationship with the Bengali bhadralok society--and, what is more important and fascinating for modern researchers in popular culture--the voices of the prostitutes themselves, which we hear from their songs, letters, and writings, collected and reproduced from both oral tradition and printed sources.




Uneven Justice


Book Description

The inside story of a case that illustrates the horrific perils of unchecked prosecutorial overreach, written by the man who experienced it firsthand. Raj Rajaratnam, the respected founder of the iconic hedge fund Galleon Group, which managed $7 billion and employed 180 people in its heyday, chose to go to trial rather than concede to a false narrative concocted by ambitious prosecutors looking for a scapegoat for the 2008 financial crisis. Naively perhaps, Rajaratnam had expected to get a fair hearing in court. As an immigrant who had achieved tremendous success in his adopted country, he trusted the system. He had not anticipated prosecutorial overreach—inspired by political ambition—FBI fabrications, judicial compliance, and lies told under oath by cooperating witnesses. In the end, Rajaratnam was convicted and sentenced to eleven years in prison. He served seven and a half. Meanwhile, not a single senior bank executive responsible for the financial crisis was even charged. Uneven Justice is the story of his bewildering and confounding prosecution by forces who, quite frankly, were looking for bigger game. When Rajaratnam refused to support the narrative that would make that happen, he and the Galleon Group became collateral damage. A cautionary tale with implications for us all, Uneven Justice is both a riveting page-turner and an eye-opening lesson in the vagaries of justice when an unscrupulous prosecutor is calling the shots.




The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes


Book Description




The Life of Margaret Alice Murray


Book Description

The Life of Margaret Alice Murray: A Woman’s Work in Archaeology is the first book-length biography of Margaret Alice Murray (1863–1963), one of the first women to practice archeology. Despite Murray’s numerous professional successes, her career has received little attention because she has been overshadowed by her mentor, Sir Flinders Petrie. This oversight has obscured the significance of her career including her fieldwork, the students she trained, her administration of the pioneering Egyptology Department at University College London (UCL), and her published works. Rather than focusing on Murray’s involvement in Petrie’s archaeological program, Kathleen L. Sheppard treats Murray as a practicing scientist with theories, ideas, and accomplishments of her own. This book analyzes the life and career of Margaret Alice Murray as a teacher, excavator, scholar, and popularizer of Egyptology, archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, and more. Sheppard also analyzes areas outside of Murray’s archaeology career, including her involvement in the suffrage movement, her work in folklore and witchcraft studies, and her life after her official retirement from UCL.




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