Book Review: The Last Mughal

Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the last Mughal Emperor, was a mystic, a talented poet, and a skilled calligrapher, who, though deprived of real political power by the East India Company, succeeded in creating a court of great brilliance, and presided over one of the great cultural renaissances of Indian history.

Book Information

Author: William Dalrymple ISBN: 9780143102434 Binding: Paperback Publisher: Penguin Date of Publication: 2007 Number of Pages: Approx 600 with cover

In history, The Last Mughal refers to the Last de jure Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II. But this book, although named after Zafar, is not a biography of the Emperor. It is about the Delhi that Zafar personified and is an unbiased testament about the rebellion that had turned an army mutiny into the largest uprising against the British Empire. In his book The Last Mughal, William Dalrymple skilfully portrays the last days of the Mughal Empire and the fall of a dynasty post the mutiny of 1857.

The author distances himself from any prejudiced fiction and instead takes us through individual stages of the event, both inside and outside the Fort. With bold and insightful description of vandalism and violence on and from both sides, this meticulously researched book takes the reader through the causes, the effects, the contexts and the consequences of a time period which had changed the course of Indian History.

Full of maps, illustrations, photos and paintings, this book is an excellent read. I had enjoyed each and every page. Definite read for anyone who is interested in this period of Indian History. I cannot say that this is what is there in the book. Instead, I am compelled to say this is what had happened. Highly recommended. You can buy this book at  amazon or at flipkart , in case you live in India. You can also find the lowest price of this book in India at shoppingwish.in

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