The Princes of India in the Endgame of Empire, 1917-1947

by Ian Copland

Overview

Ian Copland's fascinating study of the role played by the Indian princes in the devolution of British colonial power rehabilitates the maharajahs and nawabs of South Asia as subjects for serious historical debate. The author goes on to chart their political demise under the successor congress government in New Delhi, and asks how and why it happened so quickly. The book will add a new dimension to the political history of later colonial India, and will also impact upon the wider history of the twentieth-century British Empire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521571791
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/30/1997
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society , #2
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The making of Indian India; 2. The shackles of paramountcy; 3. A vision splendid; 4. The princes and the diehards; 5. On the edge of the abyss; 6. Indian summer; 7. Fin de siècle; Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"...a fascinating and fluently written study which successfully challenges future accounts of Indian independence to look far more carefully at the curious triangular relationship between the British, the princes, and the provinces of British India." The International History Review

"The demise of Indian royalty and their territories is the subject of this careful stufy by Iam Copland. Copland's research has been meticulous in the relevant official archival resources in India and Britain and the private manuscripts and published papers of the major participants." Richard J. Grace, The Historian

From the Publisher