Women of the Raj: The Mothers, Wives, and Daughters of the British Empire in India Paperback – October 9, 2007

Very well written and researched - a fascinating insight to that part of history

I have thoroughly enjoyed the narratives of the English Women's lives and times in India over 200 years. I was born after this time, but I could still feel the stories left behind. I take exception to one event: On April 13, 1919, General Dyer restored order in Amritsar to action where 400 people died. The author implies that they were "gathered" as if to create trouble. She mentioned that it was the holy day for the Sikhs, and they were gathered to celebrate this sacred event. Many women and children jumped into the well. This event, known as the Jallianwal Bagh Massacre, was the "Beginning of the End of the British Raj".

This book was fascinating. MacMillan brings tons of research to the table but she writes with the eye of a novelist. The small details - a block of ice under the table at a formal dinner party to keep everyone's feet cool, the medicinal roots of the drink we think of as Gin and Tonic, the dreadful realities of circa-1830 ocean travel - give the story life. Highly readable, and highly informative!

Love everything about theRaj history This book is one of the best!

This book was required reading in an Imperialism class I had and while the book was interesting, the way it was written can sometimes be hard to follow. The author jumps around between a lot of different women so that it took me a couple rereads of chapters to realize who was who. It also hops around in timeline between early 1800's and the end of British rule in India.

This book was a good read. I previously read The Fishing Fleet which made me want to learn more about the British living in India during the Raj period. This book richly delves deeper into that time.

I loved reading this! I never knew what the Raj referred to - England's rule over India. This book explained why Ghandi was quoted as saying, "Your Jesus I love; it's Christians I don't like." Why would he or anyone like Christians when the English who lived in India under the system of the Raj were the farthest thing from accurately representing Christ or authentic Christianity. If they attended church services they barely tolerated sermons that extended beyond 15-minutes and they looked down on Christian missionaries! The women of the Raj were commoners from England who came to India by way of marriage to soldiers serving in India. They re-created an autocratic social system imitating the higher classes in England pretending to be of them because labor was cheap. None of these women would have had servants in England - they themselves might have been servants in order to survive. The entire system was a mockery and when India was given its freedom from Imperial rule, the women of the Raj had a rude awakening in facing a return to life in England for those who did return. Fascinating read that explained many questions I've had.

The book looks like it will be interesting but I haven’t started reading it yet because the print is very small.Headaches ahead.