Request: pointers to history books

[Cancer]

We've got a "weird Earth" sort of fantasy campaign in the works set early in the 19th Century, and thinking about what we want to do, what we know about the world at that time, and the little we know now about the place, it seems like India might be the most promising setting for the campaign. The problem is, being products of the American education system, we actually know very little more about India than where it is and the name "Gandhi", which is not very helpful.

 

So, polling HEROdom for pointers: is there a good, one-volume history of the British Raj in India that would help said USers grasp what the social structure and political power distribution was in India, and who the players were, etc.? We've got time to read a couple of books as we make stuff up.

[TSandman]

Re: Request: pointers to history books

 

Might I point you to this:

 

The Imperial Age: British India

 

Got it for a future Victorian game I might do... quite nice! the first 40 pages are mostly historical/local info with late victorian-age maps of India

[Markdoc]

Re: Request: pointers to history books

 

I ran a short Victorian era "pulp" game set in India/Afghanistan a while back (Colonel Carruther's Colonial Company) inspired by all the Ripping Yarns I read as a kid. Some of the web sites I found useful were:

http://www.victorianstation.com/empire.htm

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/High-Tech/victorian_guns.html

http://www.nagssociety.com/products/products.htm

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/india.htm

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/india/indiamaps.htm

http://www.museumindocklands.org.uk/English/Learning/Teachers/resources/victorian.htm

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/archive/exhibits/worldcity/vr/

and last, but far from least:

http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/ff4/carnacki.htm

Which has nothing to do with India, but had quite a lot to do with my game

 

If you have a fast connection, I can recommend the estimable Constable's Hand Atlas of India, which has more maps than you can waggle a lathi at, if you take my meaning, eh what?

http://www.archive.org/stream/constableshanda00songoog#page/n7/mode/1up

It includes shipping routes, travel times, railways, colonial police stations and army barracks, etc etc.

 

There were also two excellent "Victorian adventure" sites but alas, they were on Geocities and are now gone the way of all flesh. Last of all, I found plenty of inspiring photos and images on various colonial wargaming sites, plus some useful scenario ideas. You can just google up a bunch of them including some steampunk victorian games.

 

cheers, Mark

[Cancer]

Re: Request: pointers to history books

 

Actually, now that I have browsed a Wikipedia article or two, it looks like our era actually is going to be in the "Company Rule" era in India; direct British rule didn't start until 1858, and our setting is probably 1800 - 1825 or so.

 

Thanks to both posters so far.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Request: pointers to history books

 

There is a good, fairly recent single volume history of British India. I'm on the fence about how much I like it, but it's

Laurence James, Raj: The Making of British India.

I can definitely pan Abraham Eraly, The Mughal Throne, which promises a history of the Mughal Empire and ends with the death of Aurangzeb.

I can taste the book about old India that I do want to read, like that childhood summer day when I thought that I could taste yellow. the closest I've come are

William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, which focusses on the siege of Delhi from the inside,

Kate Teschler, The High Road to China, which is the story of a Company diplomat in Tibet in the 1790s, with something that you don't ordinarily find in a monograph, a twist at the end.

Gamers will like

Paul Hopkirk, Tournament of Shadows, and The Great Game. So did I, for the most part.

If you get to those exotic parts, James Milward, Beyond the Pass, one of two recent histories of inner Eurasia, with the advantage that I remember the author off hand.

Jos Gommans is a name to watch.

I usually recommend the relevant Cambridge History when someone wants to read into a subject, but the Cambridge History of India is crap. Kulke and Rothermund looks like a good substitute. Mind you, I'm recommending it based on scrolling a couple pages at Google books.

That's all I've got for now.