{"title":"Books by David Gilmour","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780141979212","title":"The British in India","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTHE TIMES, SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN, TLS\u003c\/i\u003e BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eThe British in this book lived in India from shortly after the reign of Elizabeth I until well into the reign of Elizabeth II. Who were they? What drove these men and women to risk their lives on long voyages down the Atlantic and across the Indian Ocean or later via the Suez Canal? And when they got to India, what did they do and how did they live?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book explores the lives of the many different sorts of Briton who went to India: viceroys and offcials, soldiers and missionaries, planters and foresters, merchants, engineers, teachers and doctors. It evokes the three and a half centuries of their ambitions and experiences, together with the lives of their families, recording the diversity of their work and their leisure, and the complexity of their relationships with the peoples of India. It also describes the lives of many who did not fit in with the usual image of the Raj: the tramps and rascals, the men who 'went native', the women who scorned the role of the traditional memsahib.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDavid Gilmour has spent decades researching in archives, studying the papers of many people who\u003cbr\u003ehave never been written about before, to create a magnificent tapestry of British life in India. It is\u003cbr\u003eexceptional work of scholarly recovery portrays individuals with understanding and humour, and makes an original and engaging contribution to a long and important period of British and Indian history.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201535213746,"sku":"9780141979212","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141979212.jpg?v=1786011759"},{"product_id":"9780141990880","title":"The Long Recessional","description":"\u003cb\u003e'Superb, beautifully written, touching and occasionally very funny' Andrew Roberts\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eDavid Gilmour's superb biography of Rudyard Kipling is the first to show  how the life and work of the great writer mirrored the trajectory of  the British Empire, from its zenith to its final decades. His famous  poem 'Recessional' celebrated Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897,  but his last poems warned of the dangers of Nazism, and in those  intervening years Kipling, himself an icon of the Empire, was  transformed from an apostle of success to a prophet of national decline.  As Gilmour makes clear, Kipling's mysterious stories and poetry deeply  influenced the way his readers saw both themselves and the British  Empire, and they continue to challenge us today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A fine, fair and generous work ... Gilmour's celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy, distaste and\u003cbr\u003efastidious detachment ... there is never a flaccid line, and never a hasty judgement' Jan Morris, \u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Every now and again a book comes along that sheds new light on a life we thought we knew. David Gilmour's beautifully-written biography of Rudyard Kipling is just such a work ... This is literary biography at its very finest' George Rosie, \u003ci\u003eSunday Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'An enthralling biography of a mind ... essential reading for anyone who cares about how a writer finds, and passionately lives, his subject' Ruth Padel, \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The best Kipling biography yet written ... Gilmour's account of this driven man shines with intelligence' J. B. Pick, \u003ci\u003eScotsman\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43406097023154,"sku":"9780141990880","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141990880.jpg?v=1786011276"},{"product_id":"9780141043418","title":"The Pursuit of Italy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe book that explains the whole extraordinary course of Italian history like no other in English\u003c\/b\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Pursuit of Italy\u003c\/i\u003e traces the whole history of the Italian peninsula in a wonderfully readable style, full of well-chosen stories and observations from personal experience, and peopled by many of the great figures of the Italian past, from Cicero and Virgil to Dante and the Medici, from Cavour and Verdi to the controversial political figures of the twentieth century. The book gives a clear-eyed view of the Risorgimento, the pivotal event in modern Italian history, debunking the influential myths which have grown up around it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGilmour shows that the glory of Italy has always lain in its regions, with their distinctive art, civic cultures, identities and cuisine and whose inhabitants identified themselves not as Italians, but as Tuscans and Venetians, Sicilians and Lombards, Neapolitans and Genoese. This is where the strength and culture of Italy still comes from, rather than from misconceived and mishandled concepts of nationalism and unity. This wise and enormously engaging book explains the course of Italian history in a manner and with a coherence which no one with an interest in the country could fail to enjoy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDavid Gilmour\u003c\/b\u003e is one of Britain's most admired and accomplished historical writers and biographers. His previous books include \u003ci\u003eThe Last Leopard : A Life of Giuseppe di\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eLampedusa\u003c\/i\u003e (winner of the Marsh Biography Award) \u003ci\u003eCurzon\u003c\/i\u003e (Duff Cooper Prize) and\u003ci\u003e Long Recessional:The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling (\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eElizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography)\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56224443433333,"sku":"9780141043418","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141043418_ce3e31fa-e161-4abf-9505-7a214e2690eb.jpg?v=1786011024"},{"product_id":"9780141990866","title":"Curzon","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A fast-moving, entertaining and finely written story' Simon Schama\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Masterly ... a remarkable portrait of a brilliant complex and tragic genius' William Dalrymple, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eGeorge Nathaniel Curzon's controversial life in public service stretched   from the high noon of the British Empire to the traumatized years   following the First World War. As Viceroy of India under Queen Victoria   and Foreign Secretary under George V, the obsessive Lord Curzon left  his  unmistakable mark on the era. David Gilmour's lucid and elegant   biography is a brilliant assessment of Curzon's character and   achievements, offering a rich and dramatic account of the infamous   vendettas, the turbulent friendships, and the passionate, reckless love   affairs that complicated and enriched his life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A magnificent work ... entirely convincing in its evocation of Curzon's   extraordinary character ... It is, in short, the definitive life'  David  Cannadine, \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e'Exemplary biography ... meticulously researched and elegantly written' C.A.Bayly, \u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A superb new biography ... a tragic story, brilliantly told' Andrew Roberts, \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'An  absorbing, witty and intelligent biography ... David Gilmour's mix of  erudition, hard analysis and quizzical amusement will give this volume a  unique place on the ever more crowded shelves of political biography'  Ben Pimlott, \u003ci\u003eIndependent on Sunday\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56225261814133,"sku":"9780141990866","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141990866_d4080881-b058-424f-a9c1-fa4bfa3da8be.jpg?v=1786032795"},{"product_id":"9780955010514","title":"The Last Leopard","description":"David Gilmour's biography of Giuseppe di Lampedusa unearths the life story of the creator of \"The Leopard\", one of the great novels of the twentieth century. A book whose imagery, once tasted, haunts the reader forever. \"The Leopard\" describes the golden era of the nineteenth-century Sicily in all its sensual, fading, aristocratic glory. But beneath the surface lurk Sicily's millenial contagions - corruption, brutality and inequality. Who wrote this masterpiece, this work of art? the answer is as unlikely as one might hope. This is a fascinating meditation on what it is that makes a writer.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295574307189,"sku":"9780955010514","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780955010514_b7fd4fa9-0fb2-4b2f-b93e-154b8c5e3f90.jpg?v=1786016069"},{"product_id":"9780712665650","title":"The Ruling Caste","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1900 just over a thousand British civil servants ruled a population of nearly 300 million people spread over a territory now covered by India, Pakistan, Burma and Bangladesh. In its time, the Indian Civil Service was regarded as efficient, benevolent and incorruptible, but revisionist historians have recently questioned its competence and derided its altruism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this absorbing, extensively researched new book, David Gilmour traces the lives of its officials, from recruitment to retirement, from jungle to Government House, from a bungalow in Burma to a residency in Rajputana. He describes their work and their leisure, their intellectual and their private lives. The result is a portrait more varied and complicated than that painted by their old admirers, and yet fairer and subtler than those routinely produced by their post-colonial detractors.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56296110915957,"sku":"9780712665650","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712665650_fe1345a5-2033-4221-ab69-3afb996ce65c.jpg?v=1786015072"},{"product_id":"the-film-club","title":"The Film Club","description":"\u003cp\u003eJesse didn't want to go to school anymore. After much deliberation, his father offers him an unconventional deal: he can drop out, sleep all day, not work, not pay rent, but on one condition - that he watches three films a week, of his father's choosing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat follows is an unusual journey as week by week, side by side, they watch the world's best (and occasionally worst) films - from \u003ci\u003eTrue Romance\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eChunking Express\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Hard Day's Night\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eRosemary's Baby\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eLa Dolce Vita\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eGiant\u003c\/i\u003e. The films get them talking: about girls, music, heartbreak, work, drugs, money, friendship - but they also open doors to a young man's interior life at a time when a parent is normally shut out. Gradually the father's initial worries are set aside as he watches his son morph from chaotic teenager to self-assured adult - who even starts to get up before noon. As the film club moves towards its poignant and inevitable conclusion, the young man makes a decision which surprises even his father...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Film Club\u003c\/i\u003e is a book that goes straight to the heart. Honest, unsparing, and emotive, it follows one man's attempt to chart a course for his beloved son's rocky passage into adulthood.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57481415426421,"sku":"9780091937997","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780091937997.jpg?v=1786089675"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-david-gilmour.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}