Keeping the Jewel in the Crown

The British Betrayal of India

by Walter Reid

Imprint: Birlinn

224 Pages, 6.5 x 9.45 in, 8pp b/w plates

Hardcover
9781780273365
July 2016
Out of print. Available in digital formats at the links below.

$28.99

Digital download
9780857909008
July 2016

$14.99

Buy

Also available digitally:

Amazon

Apple

Barnes & Noble

Google

Kobo

Casemate IPM will earn a small commission if you buy an ebook after clicking a link here.

Description
Authors
Praise

When India became independent in 1947, the general view, which has prevailed until now, is that Britain had been steadily working for an amicable transfer of power for decades. In this book Walter Reid argues that nothing could be further from the truth. With reference to a vast amount of documentary material, from private letters to public records and state papers, he shows how Britain held back political progress in India for as long as possible - a policy which led to unimaginable chaos and suffering when independence was granted, and which created a legacy of hatred and distrust that continues to this day.

Walter Reid studied at the universities of Oxford and Edinburgh. He has written a number of acclaimed books of military and political history, including Churchill: Under Friendly Fire and Empire of Sand How Britain Made the Middle East.

a thorough and hard-hitting account ... presented with clarity and sobriety' ~BBC History Magazine

an excellent and original work ... a meticulously researched, pioneering study that will appeal to many in both countries' ~The Open (India)

Given the author, Walter Reid is a hugely admired and respected writer on military and political history whose research is incredibly impressive, his viewpoint should not be ignored. Keeping the Jewel in the Crown is an incredibly readable work of non-fiction that deserves to be read' ~LoveReading.co.uk

It is a rare book that will alter the way you look at one of history’s pivotal events and one of its greatest tragedies, but this is one of them' ~Matt Rubin, Washington Times

Reid's book makes for absorbing reading. He has the capacity to make his characters come out alive with all their human frailties. We are constantly reminded that imperialism, despite being such an awesome phenomenon, has had after all to operate through human agencies' ~Outlook, New Delhi