PEACE POVERTY AND BETRAYAL

How can we explain Britain's long rule in India beyond the cliches of 'imperial' versus 'nationalist' interpretations? In this new history Roderick Matthews tells a more nuanced story of 'oblige and rule' the foundation of common purpose between colonisers and powerful Indians.Peace Poverty and Betrayal argues that this was more a state of being than a system: British policy was never clear or consistent; the East India Company went from a manifestly incompetent ruler to arguably the world's first liberal government; and among British and Indians alike there were both progressive and conservative attitudes to colonisation. Matthews skilfully illustrates that this very diversity and ambiguity of British-Indian relations also drove the social changes that led to the struggle for independence.Skewering the simplistic binaries that often dominate the debate Peace Poverty and Betrayal is a fresh and elegant history of British India.