8 Books to Read after Listening to the Podcast EMPIRE

In the period after Queen Elizabeth II’s death, there was discussion of whether the coronation of Charles would include the Koh-I-Noor diamond, with increasing calls by India for the UK to give the diamond back. This book provides a full history of this diamond and makes the case that repatriating the diamond to India is not a simple one. The diamond was a spoil of many wars over its bloody history, with claims from not only India but also Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. It’s a fascinating look at the empire through the reflection of a diamond.

We may be familiar with the Boston Massacre or the 1968 Chicago Riots, but I’ll admit that I had never heard of the devastating Jallianwallah Bagh massacre in 1919, where the British soldiers fired on a crowd of people who had gathered illegally in the space. From this horrifying action, one survivor makes it his life mission to assassinate the commander, Sir Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, behind the event. Anand tracks the story of that survivor Udham Singh from his work and travels across the world to the pivotal moment where he shot the commander in 1940. 

This thrice Booker Prize award-winning novel is both a family saga and a historical text starting at the moment of India’s Independence and Partition. Saleem Sinai, along with thousands of children who were also born at the stroke of midnight on 8/15/1947, have special powers; Saleem can speak telepathically to his fellow “midnight’s children.” This story tracks Saleem’s successes and failures, just as the state around him rises and falls with the harsh growing pains of independence.

This one was recommended to me by the podcast hosts themselves! In 1885, Rajkumar, a poor orphan, witnesses the British army’s incursion into Mandalay, Burma, and falls in love with a handmaiden named Dolly as she flees the palace to exile in India. Rajkumar seizes the opportunity to get involved in the teak trade and eventually becomes a wealthy man. He decides to set out to find Dolly despite the passage of 20 years. It’s a story that covers the histories of Burma (now Myanmar), India, and Malaya.

This is the story of an animal trainer, Jahan, who helped construct some of the most beautiful buildings in Istanbul in the 16th century. Jahan takes care of the sultan’s animals, including the elephant Chota, who is used to help with construction. He strikes up a friendship with chief Ottoman Architect Sinan, who decides to educate Jahan in architecture. But can Jahan navigate the venomous politics and contradictions of the Ottoman court?

This book will fit well with both the Ottoman Empire and Slavery themes of the podcast. Told as a long-lost “forgotten tale,” it focuses on the story of a young Venetian scholar who is captured at sea and sold to a man named Hoca in Istanbul. Hoca asks the scholar to teach him everything that he knows. They develop an unusual friendship and work together to fulfill the desires of the sultan. It’s a story exploring the natures of two men, seemingly trapped by the structures of society and empire.