William Dalrymple Libros

India explores the lives of everyday people in extraordinary settings through the lens of Steve McCurry, one of the most admired photographers working today. As featured on cnn.com. This new portfolio of emotive and beautiful photographs from India features 150 previously unpublished images taken across the Indian subcontinent, along with iconic photographs that are famous worldwide. Reproduced in a large format with captions, and an introductory essay, this book features a range of color pictures illustrating this most colorful of countries, capturing the lives of everyday people in extraordinary settings: from the Ganesh festival on Chowpatty beach in Mumbai to the Kolkata railway station before dawn to the flower markets of Kashmir and the streets of Old Delhi. Following Phaidon's 2013 bestseller Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs, McCurry's India is a new selection of the photographer's beautiful and powerful images of India, a country he has photographed many times over the last thirty years. Other Phaidon titles by Steve McCurry, include Steve McCurry, The Iconic Photographs, Steve McCurry, Unguarded Moment and Steve McCurry: South Southeast.

In the spring of 1839, the British invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Led by lancers in scarlet cloaks and plumed shakos, nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the nineteenth century: an entire army of the then most powerful nation in the world ambushed in retreat and utterly routed by poorly equipped tribesmen. Return of a King is the definitive analysis of the First Afghan War, told through the lives of unforgettable characters on all sides and using for the first time contemporary Afghan accounts of the conflict. Prize-winning and bestselling historian William Dalrymple's masterful retelling of Britain's greatest imperial disaster is a powerful and important parable of colonial ambition and cultural collision, folly and hubris, for our times.

Highlighting India's pivotal role in shaping ancient civilization, this groundbreaking history reveals how the country was a dynamic exporter of diverse ideas, art, and technology over a millennium and a half. The author, drawing from extensive scholarship, uncovers the influence of Indian culture on global developments, from the architecture of Angkor Wat to the spread of Buddhism and the origins of modern numerals. This work positions India as the heart of ancient Eurasia, reshaping our understanding of its historical significance.

In the spring of 587 A.D., 2 men set out from the great desert monastery of St Theodosius, near Bethlehem. It was the start of an extraordinary journey across the entire Byzantine world, and William Dalrymple has followed in their footsteps

The narrative explores the complex and often overlooked dynamics of the East India Company's rise and its impact on the Mughal Empire, which was once a significant global economic power. Through meticulous research and engaging storytelling, Dalrymple reveals the darker aspects of colonialism, highlighting the transition from a thriving empire to corporate dominance. This four-book collection provides a comprehensive view of over two centuries of colonial history, marked by political intrigue and resistance, making it an essential read for history enthusiasts.

In 1765 the East India Company defeated and captured the young Mughal emperor and forced him to set up a new government run by English traders. The creation of this new government marked the moment that the East India Company ceased to be a conventional international trading corporation, dealing in silks and spices, and became something much more unusual: an aggressive colonial power in the guise of a multinational business

'Could you show me a djinn?' I asked. 'Certainly, ' replied the Sufi. 'But you would run away.' From the author of the Samuel Johnson prize shortlisted 'The Return of a King', this is William Dalrymple's captivating memoir of a year spent in Delhi, a city watched over and protected by the mischievous invisible djinns. Lodging with the beady-eyed Mrs Puri and encountering an extraordinary array of characters - from elusive eunuchs to the last remnants of the Raj - William Dalrymple comes to know the bewildering city intimately. He pursues Delhi's interlacing layers of history along narrow alleys and broad boulevards, brilliantly conveying its intoxicating mix of mysticism and mayhem. 'City of Djinns' is an astonishing and sensitive portrait of a city, and confirms William Dalrymple as one of the most compelling explorers of India's past and present.

A historical account of the last Mughal emperor, his court, and the 1857 uprising in Delhi.

The first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i Noor, arguably the most celebrated and mythologised jewel in the world. On 29 March 1849, the ten-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal Act of Submission to Queen Victoria not only swathes of the richest land in India, but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent- the celebrated Koh-i Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light. The history of the Koh-i-Noor that was then commissioned by the British may have been one woven together from gossip of Delhi Bazaars, but it was to be become the accepted version. Only now is it finally challenged, freeing the diamond from the fog of mythology which has clung to it for so long. The resulting history is one of greed, murder, torture, colonialism and appropriation through an impressive slice of south and central Asian history. It ends with the jewel in its current controversial setting- in the crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Masterly, powerful and erudite, this is history at its most compelling and invigorating.

As the author of the best travel book of recent years at the intensely irritating age of twenty-two, William Dalrymple has now shown that In Xanadu was no fluke. City of Djinns is an entertaining mix of history and diary informed by a deep curiosity about the ways in which the ghosts of even the most distant past still walk in the twentieth century. On one level there are the amusing rites of passage, the struggles with bureaucracy, the eccentricity of author's landlord, all entertainingly related. He has a way of letting you smell and feel the city. There are beautifully chiselled descriptions of a grand capital, but much of the book's strength lies in his skill in peeling the historical onion and showing how (the) New Delhi resonates with the old. A splendid tapestry.