Hi! I’m wondering if any literary/historical-buff Dopers could suggest a good, comprehensive, yet interesting book on the history of the British in India, from first contact to India’s Independence. I have found many online, but I’m looking for specific recommendations before I choose.
TIA,
Una
Due to his compassionate attitude towards the people of India, a biography of Lord Mountbatten’s service as the last Viceroy of India may have some value.
Just a thought.
An interesting, and very rich, subject area on which I can’t pretend to be an expert. I’m not sure about a comprehensive history of the Raj, but I can recommend:
M K Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth
The Idea of India, by Sunil Khilani which covers a lot of the ground in a superficial but interesting way.
There are a number of books about “midnight” (14.8.47), not least of all, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. Worth reading if you want to understand the differences between the various nations in the Sub-continent.
Almost anything by Rudyard Kipling will give you an insight into the mindset of the British Raj. He’s a highly underrated author IMHO, but that’s just my view.
Then again, before too long somebody is bound to recommend the works of M M Kaye; an excellent series of novels set in India during the relevant period and told through the eyes of a narrator who is in many ways more Indian than Anglo-. Start with The Far Pavilions ,you won’t regret it.
Went to India for a medical elective last year. In India you have a lot of time to read.
A good scholarly treatment is:
The Oxford History of Modern India 1740-1947 by Percival Spear
A good popular treatment, and maybe the best general history book ever, is:
Our Oriental Heritage by Will Durant
Good specific stories include:
Raj by Gita Mehta which includes lots of pretty good historical facts. Is told from an Indian perspective.
Let me take this chance to put in a plug for some amazing Indian literature:
Karma Kola by Gita Mehta
The God of Small Things by A. Roy
All About M. Hatterr by G. V. Desani
Some of the stuff by Anita Desai is good.
I personally don’t enjoy Salman Rushdie that much. This is not meant in any way to be a pretentious statement.
Thank all of you very much - you have given me some great ideas each one. Especially Dr_Paprika. 
I’ve got some Amazon browsing to do now…
It’s not exactly what you asked for, Anthracite, but Kim by Rudyard Kipling came to mind when I read your OP. It’s a beautiful story, and it touches a lot on the British impact in India.
If you can’t use it for your aforementioned purposes, I suggest reading it for fun.
Should clarify that the Will Durant book, Our Oriental Heritage is not specific to the Raj area of India, and also includes a good summary of “religious”, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese and Babylonian history, as well as others. But the section on Raj India is still very good.
I’ve recently finished Lawrence James’s Rise and Fall of the British Empire. I recommend it, but watch out for apologism. He also has out Raj, which is India-specific, but I haven’t read that.
Wow, even more good suggestions. Thanks everybody!
I’ll second the recommendation of Lawrence James’ Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. An excellent readable one volume general history of the subject.
Another good book is Cristopher Hibbert’s The Great Mutiny: India 1857 which covers the Sikh Mutiny, one of the defining events of the British Indian period. And I also enjoyed Peter Hopkirk’s The Great Game which gives a general history of the struggle between Britain and Russia for control of India and Central Asia.
Why don’t I see these things before I post?
Mr Hibbert’s first name is Christopher not Cristopher.
Hibbert’s The Great Mutiny is an excellent book, as Little Nemo said (although it may give the more squeamish nightmares): however, nearly all the Sikh Regiments of the Indian Army remained loyal to the Raj–it was the Muslim and Hindu sepoy regiments that mutinied. The Sikhs remained loyal for several reasons, not least for the chance to put the boots to the Muslims and Hindus, and the prospect of looting rebel cities and towns (a favourite pastime of many British soldiers, as well).
At the core of British-Indian history is the story of the Indian Army (officered by the British, for the most part); an excellent examination of this complex relationship can be found in Philip Mason’s A Matter Of Honour :An account of the Indian Army,its officers and men. Another indispensable source (and an all-round cracking good read, BTW) is The Frontier Scouts by Charles Chenevix-Trench: an almost affectionate account of the nearly 100-years on again- off again- war with the Pathan tribes of the North-West Frontier.
Finally, to take an overview of the British Empire as a whole, anyone with the slightest historical interest should read James/Jan Morris’ classic work(s), the Pax Brittanica Trilogy. There is a great deal on India and the Raj, from the East India Company days, up to Partition in 1947.
Rodd is right. I knew there was a general term for the incident but I couldn’t remember it off hand. For some reason I came up with “Sikh Mutiny” rather than the correct term “Sepoy Mutiny”. Naturally I remembered this an hour later while driving to work.