For many years the English interlopers and traders who made contact with the subcontinent were viewed by Indians as little more than pirates and potentially conquering barbarians, but by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain had gained mastery of the subcontinent. This period, and the century and a half that followed, saw two powerful cultures locked in an often bloody battle over political control, land, trade, and a way of life.In this lively and authoritative book, Denis Judd examines anew what the Raj really meant for the British and their Indian subjects. Among the questions he explores are whether the British were intent on development or exploitation, whether they were the 'civilizing' force they claimed, and what their greatest legacies were.

• 1: 'To fly to India for gold': Early Contacts, 1583-1615


• 2: 'Infamous for their honest endeavours': Laying Foundations, 1615-1708


• 3: Conquest and Corruption: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1708-1815


• 4: 'The great ends we have in view': The East India Company as Paramount Power, 1815-1857


• 5: 'The devil's wind': The Great Indian Uprising, or Mutiny of 1857-1858


• 6: Lords of All They Surveyed? The Raj at its Zenith, 1858-1905


• 7: The Beginning of the End? Reform and Conflict, 1905-1919


• 8: Gandhi and the Fightback of Indian Nationalism, 1919-1939


• 9: 'Engine of War' or the Enemy Within? India, 1939-1945


• 10: 'Tryst with Destiny': Freedom and Partition, 1945-1947


• Epilogue


• Chronology


• Sources for Quotations


• Bibliography


• Index

Denis Judd is Professor of British Imperial, Commonwealth, and Indian History, at the London Metropolitan University. He is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling Empire: The British Imperial Experience from 1865 to the Present (HarperCollins, 1996), which was second on the best selling London hardback list, and most recently, The Boer War (John Murray, 2002, paperback 2003). He has written radio documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, and has broadcast many times both as a presenter, consultant, and major interviewee for television and radio programmes: most recently for BBC TV Newsnight, BBC Radio 3 Nightwaves, Channel 4, ITV, South African TV and for BBC Radio 4's Vestiges - the British Empire.