Böcker av Roy Moxham

IN THE THREE CENTURIES THAT FOLLOWED VASCO DA GAMA`S DISCOVERY OF THE SEA ROUTE FROM EUROPE TO INDIA, EUROPEAN POWERS MADE A BEELINE FOR INDIA`S FABLED RICHES, ITS SPICES, GOLD AND GEMS. THOUGH THEY OSTENSIBLY CAME FOR TRADE AND COMMERCE, AND THE THRILL OF DISCOVERING A NEW LAND, THE LINES BETWEEN EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION SOON BLURRED. THE THEFT OF INDIA DOCUMENTS THE INTENSE RIVALRY FOR SPOILS THAT PLAYED OUT BETWEEN THE BRITISH, THE FRENCH, THE DUTCH AND THE PORTUGUESE, AND THE IMPACT THIS HAD ON THE INDIANS. ROY MOXHAM`S WORK, THOUGH, IS NO DRY STUDY OF TEXTUAL MATERIALS. HE SUPPLEMENTS THESE ACCOUNTS WITH AN EXHAUSTIVE STUDY OF ACADEMIC WORKS ON THE SUBJECT. THE RESULT IS AN UNFLATTERING PICTURE OF THE `CIVILIZED` WEST AS IT SYSTEMATICALLY STRIPS INDIA OF ITS RICHES. THE THEFT OF INDIA IS A NUANCED, IMPORTANT AND HIGHLY READABLE ADDITION TO THE STUDY OF IMPERIALISM AND ITS DEHUMANIZING EFFECTS ON THE COLONIZED.

In June 1992, author Roy Moxham did a very strange thing: he wrote to a bandit in an Indian jail. Phoolan Devi was the controversial and charismatic 'Bandit Queen' hailed as a modern-day Robin Hood in the villages surrounding Delhi. In revenge for her own gang rape, her followers killed 20 high-caste Indians, which led to her surrender and imprisonment.Struck by her story and appalled by her plight, Roy Moxham helped Phoolan Devi obtain justice, offered her encouragement when she became an MP in India on her release, and travelled with her for several years before she was finally gunned down in 2001. Based on the diaries that documented their extraordinary friendship, Moxham offers a fascinating portrait of a remarkable woman and reveals the hidden face of India.

From tea's first discovery in China to the present day, the story of a great world obsession