3 Review(s)

William Howard Russell was sent to India by The Times to report on the conflict of 1857-1859 known as the Indian Mutiny. His previous work was in the Crimean War and his exposes of conditions there led to the sending of Florence Nightingale and her nurses, improvements to supplies and conditions, and to the demand for military and administrative reform. It was largely because of his contributions that war correspondence emerged as a new branch of journalism. In his Indian diary, Russell criticises British snobbery as well as attitudes to and treatment of the Indians, and advocates leniency and conciliation. Volume 2 continues his experiences, recounting anecdotes of military and civilian life with sympathy for the native people, intermingled with an unswerving belief in the rightness of the British presence in India. His advocacy of non-military rule, however, made the work controversial in its time.