Modern-day Brits have honoured historian Ramachandra Guha for a rather unusual book that is mainly about white Brits who were severely punished for going against the British establishment of their day to give their all for Indian independence.
On Monday, Guha was in London to collect a £5,000 cheque for winning the highly regarded Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2023 in its 20th anniversary year for Rebels against the Raj: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom (published by William Collins).
The judges made a point of stressing the book has particular relevance to contemporary India.
“As Guha points out, oppression does not disappear with the ending of colonial rule, and the ideas and priorities incisively drawn out in this book deserve urgent attention in today’s India,” the chair of the judging panel said in a pointed remark.
The annual prize “was established in 2003 in affectionate memory of Elizabeth Longford (1906-2002), an acclaimed historical biographer and family matriarch best known for Victoria RI (1964), her scholarly and readable life of Queen Victoria, for her magisterial Wellington: Years of the Sword (1969), and Wellington: Pillar of State (1972)”.
Guha also received a bound copy of Longford’s autobiography, The Pebbled Shore (1986)
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