Charles Allen is an oral and military historian specialising in colonial matters. He is the author of several previous books and lives in north London.
This is an insider's book. It is an enthralling collection of memoirs, first recorded as a BBC radio series, in which survivors of the Raj look back upon their lives and times in India. They range from Field-Marshal Auchinleck to Spike Milligan. Seldom sentimental, often surprisingly salty, their recollections throw a healthy light upon the mingled delights and miseries of the imperial experience not only in their own times, but throughout the three centuries of the British presence in the sub-continent. Review by Jan Morris, whose books include 'Lincoln: A Foreigner's View' (Kirkus UK)