The Last Mughal

In this evocative study of the fall of the Mughal Empire and the beginning of the Raj, award-winning historian William Dalrymple uses previously undiscovered sources to investigate a pivotal moment in history.

The last Mughal emperor, Zafar, came to the throne when the political power of the Mughals was already in steep decline. Nonetheless, Zafar—a mystic, poet, and calligrapher of great accomplishment—created a court of unparalleled brilliance, and gave rise to perhaps the greatest literary renaissance in modern Indian history. All the while, the British were progressively taking over the Emperor's power. When, in May 1857, Zafar was declared the leader of an uprising against the British, he was powerless to resist though he strongly suspected that the action was doomed. Four months later, the British took Delhi, the capital, with catastrophic results. With an unsurpassed understanding of British and Indian history, Dalrymple crafts a provocative, revelatory account of one the bloodiest upheavals in history.

Winner of Duff Cooper Prize 2007

“" The book makes clear the dangers of colonial powers' inattentiveness to the dissatisfactions of those they rule, and the human costs of answering one atrocity with another." - "The New Yorker" " A compulsively readable masterpiece . . . In his wonderful new book, "The Last Mughal," William Dalrymple has not just revised forever the old British story; he has matched it with an equally full account from the Indian side. His book, without any sign of strain or artificial connections, deals with a historical tragedy on several very different levels . . . It is a detailed and intensely human history of a desperate and brutal campaign. And it is, in the best sense of the word, a thriller in which all the characters inexorably interact to produce a dreadful denouement. Dalrymple' s passion for his subject and his skill and elegance as a writer create an intimate picture of the lives of the people who participated in the events of 1857 . . . Every chapter of "The Last Mughal" has historical echoes that are still desperately relevant today." - Brian Urquhart, "New York Review of Books" " Dalrymple has written a riveting and poignant account of the events of 1857 in Delhi . . . Historians have largely ignored Delhi' s experience of the cataclysm [but] Dalrymple sets out to correct this neglect. Writing with obvious affection for Delhi and appreciation for Mughal culture, he shows that the experience of the rebellion in the city was quite distinct . . . Deeply researched and beautifully written." - Gyan Prakash, "The Nation" " [A] rich narrative . . . From fruit sellers to courtesans, the storyof the last days of the Mughal empire comes alive . . . Thanks to Dalrymple, we can now get a peek into the last moments of a beguiling era." - Vikram Johri, "St. Petersburg Times" " While Zafar is the title character of "The Last Mughal, "his life is just the thread along which Dalrymple continues to explore a theme that has fascinated him for two decades: the utter collapse of relations between the British and the inhabitants of their Indian dominions . . . Dalrymple excels at bringing grand historical events within contemporary understanding by documenting the way people went about their lives amidst the maelstrom. His coup in researching was his uncovering some 20,000 personal Persian and Urdu papers written by Delhi residents who survived the uprising." - Tobin Harshaw, "New York Times Book Review" " It seems almost unfair for a book with such a fine sense of plot, physicality, and even humor to contain primary research as well . . . [This is] serious scholarship, still blessed by Dalrymple' s gift for finding eye-catching transitions, strong characters, and a knack for turning tracts of historical documentation into a roaring good story . . . He brings to light invaluable material . . . Anyone reading "The Last Mughal" today, especially readers with no prior interest in the Mughals or the Mutiny, will find much to ponder in relation to America' s ongoing adventures in the same neighborhood . . . [An] excellent history." - Alex Travelli, "New York Sun" " Dalrymple' s account is an original, important contribution to the controversies of 1857, for it draws on an archive that Darlymplereports has been ' virtually unused' by historians . . . His riveting narrative will engross readers." - Gilbert Taylor, "Booklist" " In time for the 150th anniversary of the Great Mutiny, the uprising that came close to toppling British rule in India, Dalrymple presents a brilliant, evocative exploration of a doomed world and its final emperor, Bahadur Shah II . . . [Dalrymple] has been immeasurably aided by his discovery of a colossal trove of documents in Indian national archives in Delhi and elsewhere. Thanks to them Dalrymple can vividly recreate, virtually at street level, the life and death of one of the most glorious and progressive empires ever seen. That the rebels fatefully raised the flag of jiha”

“A compulsively readable masterpiece. . . . Every chapter of The Last Mughal has historical echoes that are still desperately relevant today.” —The New York Review of Books “Deeply researched and beautifully written. . . . A poignant account of the events of 1857 in Delhi.” —The Nation“There is so much to admire in this book - the depth of historical research, the finely evocative writing, the extraordinary rapport with the cultural world of late Mughal India. It is also in many ways a remarkably humane and egalitarian history . . . This is a splendid work of empathetic scholarship.” —David Arnold, Times Literary Supplement

William Dalrymple is the author of seven previous works of history and travel, including City of Djinns, which won the Young British Writer of the Year Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award; and From the Holy Mountain; White Mughals, which won Britain’s Wolfson History Prize. He is a contributor to The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. He divides his time between New Delhi and London.

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