3 Review(s)

1857 was an epic confrontation of race and politics between the colonial new - western secular positivism now in alliance with western Christianity and the indigenous new, the forces of peasant aristocratic Asian capitalism and modernity. Till today it remains the only event, which gives a glimpse of lost possibilities of a non - Western, free, unfettered Asiatic personality and development. It outlines in detail the machinations and mindset of liberal western Imperialism, so easily lured into secular Imperialism and then into religious fundamentalism, its promise of liberty turning into a nightmare of oppression and cruelty. Accessible to scholars, historians, lay readers, students of military adventure and battles, ideologies, action and drama, the story of 1857 story resonates with smells and sounds of an Indian caravanserai and chandukhana, the auburn - gray picture of high sounding, sex starved Victorian England. It offers for the first time an East - West conflict with equal footage offered to both sides seen from a contemporary perspective, Asian and Western, indigenous and modern revolving around the heterogeneous needs and aspirations of the present, strife ridden age. The book in two volumes, showcases a West, the West has never seen, an Asia which Asians are unaware of and a story of `The Indian Mutiny’ which has never been told before. The whole Asia - Europe conflict gets a new slant. In the current world, political climate of East - West polarization, this book is bound to do well both in India, Asia and the West.