Anarchy - book review

Anarchy by William Dalrymple — book review

    'Anarchy' unravels the enigmatic portrayal of the East India company, from its genesis, to its gradual vanishing from history. 

       "It was not the British Government that began seizing great chunks of India in the mid-eighteenth century, but a dangerously unregulated private company based in a small office, five windows wide, in London, and managed in India by a violent, utterly ruthless and intermittently mentally unstable corporate predator — Clive."

My perception was quite different from the quoted line above, until I read this book authored by William Dalrymple. 

         Dalrymple gives an extensive knowledge of the EIC, validating by excerpts from accounts of real — time  historians, letters etc.

He also gives an overview of the personality of the dramatis personae (characters which appear in the book). 

       This book contains accounts of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, the Bengal famine , insiders accounts and how the British government dealt EIC which may not be covered widely in other available sources.

       ' He (Clive) was all over estates and diamonds... and  if a beggar asks charity, he says, " Friend I have no small brillants with me.” There was also a rumour that Lady Clive's pet bird had a diamond necklace '. Many interesting facts like these are embedded in Dalrymple's book. 

     In addition, the author compares the past with the present in the epilogue (then corporate supremacy vs. now). 

      Do not get disheartened by the sheer volume of the book. It's a very slow book, since there are a lot of information to be assimilated. It's definitely worth a reading, as it furnishes a blanket account from 1600 to 1803, a much skipped history period. 

      

Environmentalism - a global history -- BOOK REVIEW

        Environmentalism — a global history

                  By Ramachandra Guha

     Environmentalism — a long neglected subject has come under great scrutiny now. Environmental movements are lighting up all over the world. This domain has to be addressed impulsively. 

       Ramachandra Guha, in this book, gives an account on how countries maneuvered this theory into practice. 

THE WAVES : 

      The book is divided into two parts or waves as Guha calls it. In the first part, he gives a brief stint about environmental thinkers and their ideologies. He further divides the first wave into three groups 

     🔸Back to the land

     🔸 Scientific conservation

     🔸 Wilderness idea 

Back to the land chapter focuses on thinkers who abhorred the idea of urbanization, scientific conservation is about taming the plundering of natural resources and wilderness idea is about disengaging human activities in a locked up area. 

        The second wave concentrates more on the various environmental movements like the Chipko Andolan, Narmada Bachao, German Greens etc... This part also provides the methods different countries use to tackle the environmental distress. Some countries which come into this frame are the USA, Germany, Australia, Brazil, China, USSR and parts of Africa. 

 THE DELIGHT: 

  The author has legibly described a generic global history on environmentalism. He also provides excerpts from various sources to establish his point. Also, the account on thinkers gives us insights into their new ideas and theories. The fact that amuses me is how

women formed the frontline in this crusade especially in the Chipko Andolan. The author says that, feminism is correlated with environmentalism and cites the lives of Medha Patkar,  Wangaari Mathai, Mira Behn, Rachel Carson etc. as examples. 

THE AVERSION :

     The back to the land chapter is rather a literary commentary, since the author quotes a lot of Wordsworth, John Ruskin and writings of William Morris, Edward Carpenter and more. A lacuna of more detailed analysis of environmental trends in different countries can be adhered to. 

ON THE WHOLE: 

     It is a good book and can be read in short span of time. An overall understanding of global environmental history can be grasped. 

Also, the author links India's stand with the other countries in this field, which provides a better comparison study. 

GLOSSARY: 

impulsively - compulsive, driven 

maneuver - handle , manipulate

aversion - not approving

adhered- bind , unite 

lacuna - void