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The Last Mughal

The Fall of Delhi, 1857

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The Last Mughal

By: William Dalrymple
Narrated by: Sagar Arya
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About this listen

 Bloomsbury presents this Unabridged recording of The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple, read by Sagar Arya

In May 1857 India’s flourishing capital became the centre of the bloodiest rebellion the British Empire had ever faced. Once a city of cultural brilliance and learning, Delhi was reduced to a battered, empty ruin, and its ruler – Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the last of the Great Mughals – was thrown into exile. The Siege of Delhi was the Raj’s Stalingrad: a fight to the death between two powers, neither of whom could retreat.

The Last Mughal tells the story of the doomed Mughal capital, its tragic destruction, and the individuals caught up in one of the most terrible upheavals in history, as an army mutiny was transformed into the largest anti-colonial uprising to take place anywhere in the world in the entire course of the nineteenth century.

WINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER MEMORIAL PRIZE | LONGLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE
'Indispensable reading on both India and the Empire' Daily Telegraph
'Brims with life, colour and complexity . . . outstanding' Evening Standard
‘A compulsively readable masterpiece’ Brian Urquhart, The New York Review of Books
A stunning and bloody history of nineteenth-century India and the reign of the Last Mughal.©2009 William Dalrymple (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Asia Europe Great Britain India Law South Asia World Imperialism British Empire
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Outstanding example of historical writing from the author, as always. Refreshing perspective basing the work largely on Indian sources, freely available but seldom used in 'western' versions of the Mutiny. I would have liked to see a wider view, than primarily Delhi (Cawnpore, Lucknow, Meerut, Rani of Jhansi - these were mentioned briefly but not explored). I also would have avoided the highly subjective moralising at the end. That said, I highly recommend to anyone wanting a comprehensive and thoroughly researched history of the Indian Mutiny, its complex causes, and its inextricable links to the demise of the great Mughal empire.

Excellent historical perspective

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