2007-02-01 Excellent book

I suppose the best way to describe it is to say that it gives a wonderful picture of the good and the bad sides of the British at the time. He discusses the change from India being run by people who understood the locals quite well, to a ruling class imported from India. In many accounts this is glossed over, as are the various attempts at correcting the mistakes made just prior to the rebellion.

As an account of the Great Rebellion itself it gives not so much a birds eye view, but more of a narrative view; anecdotes, narrative accounts of what happened, excerpts from letters, all help to draw a surprisingly detailed picture without losing sight of the overall situation. I think that is one of the best parts of the book, it has a good balance between a dry birds eye view of the situation, discussing only strategy and politics, and a overly detailed view where you lose sight of the big picture.

It also takes the view that this was not a nationalist uprising, not the first revolution, but an explosion of violence as a result of growing pressure against the old way of life.

The book does follow the British point of view far more than the Indian one, perhaps because sources for the British point of view are much easier to find. There are also some other slight flaws, the end is a bit weak, but this is a book about the Great Mutiny not the aftermath of the Mutiny, or, really, the Honourable East India Company.

Overall highly recommended, my copy is getting worn.