South Asian History
Macaulay’s Education Minute
I often check in with My Own True Love when I’m unsure about a blog topic.* When I asked him what he knows about Thomas Babington Macaulay he said “He sounds very distinguished.” I explained that Macaulay is best known as the most important writer of Whig history,** but that I think his real importance…
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Review: The Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42
I’ve written on this blog before about the first British invasion of Afghanistan, and the disasters that followed. In fact, I’ve written about it more than once. It’s a story that never fails to fascinate me, but when I received William Dalyrmple’s The Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42 to review I…
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The Baburnama : An Emperor Tells His Own Story
Zahir-u-din Muhammad Babur was the first Mughal ruler of India–one of history’s great empire builders by any standard. Born in 1483 in the Central Asian kingdom of Ferghana (part of modern Uzbekistan), Babur was descended from two great conquerors: Genghis Khan and Timur (known in the west as Tamurlane). After being edged out of his…
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