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Learn to COOK - Women of the Raj: The Mothers, Wives, and Daughters of the British Empire in India
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List Price: $15.95
Our Price: $10.85
Your Save: $ 5.10 ( 32% )
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Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 954.00421
EAN: 9780812976397
ISBN: 0812976398
Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2007-10-09
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Release Date: 2007-10-09
Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks
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Editorial Reviews:
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In the nineteenth century, at the height of colonialism, the British ruled India under a government known as the Raj. British men and women left their homes and traveled to this mysterious, beautiful country–where they attempted to replicate their own society. In this fascinating portrait, Margaret MacMillan examines the hidden lives of the women who supported their husbands’ conquests–and in turn supported the Raj, often behind the scenes and out of the history books. Enduring heartbreaking separations from their families, these women had no choice but to adapt to their strange new home, where they were treated with incredible deference by the natives but found little that was familiar. The women of the Raj learned to cope with the harsh Indian climate and ward off endemic diseases; they were forced to make their own entertainment–through games, balls, and theatrics–and quickly learned to abide by the deeply ingrained Anglo-Indian love of hierarchy.
Weaving interviews, letters, and memoirs with a stunning selection of illustrations, MacMillan presents a vivid cultural and social history of the daughters, sisters, mothers, and wives of the men at the center of a daring imperialist experiment–and reveals India in all its richness and vitality.
“A marvellous book . . . [Women of the Raj] successfully [re-creates] a vanished world that continues to hold a fascination long after the sun has set on the British empire.”
–The Globe and Mail
“MacMillan has that essential quality of the historian, a narrative gift.”
–The Daily Telegraph
“MacMillan is a superb writer who can bring history to life.”
–The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Well researched and thoroughly enjoyable.”
–Evening Standard
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Women of the Raj: The Dream and the Reality
Comment: Margaret MacMillan has penned a book that is as entertaining as it is informative. Focusing on the lives of British women who either accompanied their husbands to India or voyaged to the subcontinent for other purposes--perhaps to find a husband or to become a domestic or do charitable work, the author paints a vivid picture of women's lives from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries of the British ventures in India, which began with the East India Company and culminated in the Raj.
Having been brought up on a diet of Kipling, the Godden sisters, and later, M.M. Kaye, I once had a rather romantic notion of what it must be like to be a memsahib--such thoughts usually came to me as a teenager, cleaning up my messy room, imagining how lovely it would be to have "all those servants." After reading Ms. MacMillan's fascinating account, based upon actual women's letters and memoirs, I can relegate my teenage dreams properly to the realm of misguided fantasy.
Women had to cope with unimaginable annoyances. They suffered the tragic loss of children, either to sudden illness or to forced separation by the necessity of sending them Home at an early age for education. The voyage out and the journey to the final destination could be both uncomfortable and dangerous. And the amount of baggage, clothes and other paraphernalia that one had to drag around, especially in the 19th century, was truly astounding (eleven camel-loads were recommended by "The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook"); and all those petticoats and corsets, not to mention the stodgy multi-course meals in all that heat, must have been enervating. As for servants, there were so many rules of caste and custom that the woman of the house had to undergo a juggling act to keep up with them and not make dreadful gaffes. Women were not only circumscribed by rigid social mores, but they were also subjected to stultifying boredom (I fear I would have been one of those women who lamentably "let down . . . the Raj and the British Empire" [237]).
"Women of the Raj" is a splendid book that gives us a glimpse into the intrepid women who constituted "the Mothers, Wives, and Daughters of the British Empire in India;" the women who dwelt in a fascinating but tenuous bubble that burst with Indian independence.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Excellent study of two cultures in conflict
Comment: Women of the Raj is a fascinating portrait of two cultures in collision: that of the Indians, and that of the British, who occupied India in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. More specifically, this book is about the British women who populated the Raj, from the time they arrived in India until the time they left in 1947. The book explores how women thought, what they ate and wore, and how they interacted with one another. It's a study of history that gets overlooked in favor of more "important" things, and which I'm glad was covered in this book. The book draws on letters and nonfiction and fiction books by a variety of authors from three centuries.
What I thought was fascinating was the British attitude towards the people they governed, and the attitude the Indians had towards their rulers. The caste system was complicated, something that the British didn't understand and never evne tried to understand most of the time. I love how the author brings the lives of the women of the Raj to the forefront of Angle-Indian history (she had family who lived there). The British women who lived in India tried to balance the best of two worlds: being a traditional housewife while surviving the climate and culture of India. I thought it was fascinating how the women tried to re-create English society in their adopted homes, right down to social etiquette and the food they ate.
Many of the women hated living in India, but many more enjoyed their stays in a country that was completely foreign to them in every way. In all, I great study of Anglo-Indian history, though I would have liked MacMillan to have talked more about the women who fell outside the traditional role of "memsahib," or the other traditional housewives of the time. But a must read for anyone who likes Indian history, or Victorian history, or the history of women.
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Summary: First person sources are the best...
Comment: Women of the Raj gives me the first person accounts of history that I enjoy so much. I didn't really know much of the history of the British Empire in India, outside of the common knowledge of Gandhi and maybe the books of Rumer Godden. This book allows you not only to understand the history, but you understand it from the point of view of the women. I love Asian history, first person sources and women's history, so this is perfect for me. From when the British and the French fought over India, till the closing days of the Raj after World War Two, this really gives you a detailed history of India under English Rule. It tells us about how the Europeans dealt with the climate, the diseases, the food, the hierarchy, the dangers, the natives, and family life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Well written and informative
Comment: I'm not finished reading _Women of the Raj_ yet, so maybe I'm not qualified to review it, but I am enjoying this book. After reading some fiction about India--Paul Scott's Raj Quartet, A Passage to India by E.M. Forster and _The Seige of Krishnapur_ by J. G. Farrell, as well as Jan Morris' history of the British Empire, I wanted to learn more and this book is nicely filling in the gaps in my knowledge. Margaret MacMillan's writing is clear and quickly grabs the reader's interest. I was worried that I was going to have to wade through something dry and scholarly, so this book is a nice surprise. The British became a presence in India in the 16th century and the two cultures have a long and fascinating history.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very interesting
Comment: As an Indian, I've always known about the Indians' view of the Raj, so it's very interesting to read about the Britishers' views and their lives in India. "Women Of The Raj" is very informative and provides every detail about their lives. As the book focuses on women, the reader encounters all their social and domestic problems and finds him/herself wondering over and over again how anyone could live like that! Even when the Raj was at its peak, these women faced a great many difficulties. This is the first book I've ever read about the Raj and it has inspired me to read many more. Highly recommended.
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