City of Gold

by Gillian Tindall

'Like London, like Paris or New York or pre-war Alexandria, Bombay contains not just many different social worlds but whole solar systems of different societies moving separately and intricately over the same territory. Ever since its insignificant and hesitant beginnings it has acted as a draw for people of so many races and languages, Indian, Middle Eastern and European, that there is no one tongue in general use there. For a while the largest city east of Suez till you came to Tokyo, and the largest in the British Empire after London, Bombay has always just missed being a world capital.'

This is Gillian Tindall's own description. Bombay (Mumbai) is indeed one of the great cities of the world and this book, first published in 1982, does full justice to it.

'Fascinating. Gillian Tindall has brought the great city richly to life. It is a keenly perceptive account - at once loving and stringent.' Colin Thubron.

'A glowing evocation of a great exotic subject . . . A celebration of the city' John Carey, "Sunday Times"

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'Her feeling for the past is not tinged with curry or sentimentality . . . her perceptions, visual and historical, are acute . . . a good an unusual choice as Bombay's biographer' "Observer"

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'Insatiably curious, novelist and historian, Gillian Tindall does not rest until she gets tot he origins of whatever interests her. Here she has focused on architecture and the British roots of the metropolis. She has accomplished the job admirably' - "New Statesman"

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction

266 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 1992

About the author

Gillian Tindall began her career as a prize-winning novelist. She has continued to publish fiction but has also staked out an impressive territory in idiosyncratic non-fiction that is brilliantly evocative of place.

Her The Fields Beneath: The History of One London Village which first appeared thirty years ago, has rarely been out of print; nor has Celestine: Voices from a French Village, published in the mid 1990s and translated into several languages, for which she was decorated by the French government.

Well known for the quality of her writing and the meticulous nature of her research, Gillian is a master of miniaturist history. She lives with her husband in London.

Reviews

[Abhishek Basak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have liked it if this book had focused a little bit more on Bombay's importance as a commercial port and trading hub, especially from the 1660's to the 1860's before the American Civil War and the cotton mill boom. That seems like a substantially important part of Bombay's history that this book glossed over. I would have liked to know how trade functioned under the Portuguese, and how it changed, or evolved with the arrival of the East India Company and the eventual influx of the Parsis, the jews, the Gujaratis, etc.
This book suggests that Bombay's importance as an export point and its economic growth had majorly to do with the removal of East India Company's monopoly on trade, and the arrival of international traders. But it doesn't delve deeply enough into how that might have shaped Bombay and what exactly the mercantile world of that time looked like. It instead chose to focus on things that seemed (to me) less interesting.
I therefore occasionally found it a frustrating read.
But there was enough in this book to give me a broad overview of the development of Bombay (up to the early twentieth century at least) and so it was as fascinating as it was frustrating.

[Shridhar Sp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book. You can see the Mumbai of 18-19th century still existing today. However, it ended rather inconclusively not talking about the 20th century Bombay even upto when the book was written in 1980s

[Khushie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal biography of the city of Mumbai. Gillian Tindall has a way with words and an amazing sense of humour. Fair warning though: The book flips back to the past without a warning so you're going to have to keep up.
One of the best books on the city I've read in the recent past. Will bring you to realise that nothing really ever changes in this city.

[Derek Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less than gripping. Skipped most of this: Tindall is a poor guide through Bombay's no doubt fascinating history.

[Mugdha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely an insightful book about history, geography and evolving political and economic scenario of Bombay since 16th century.
It's a heavy read and some chapters can be boring to read in entirety.
Wish there were more images/maps of the location of old landmarks because most of the buildings/iconic places aren't there any more, it's difficult to picturize them.
The language is heavy and written in facts representation way, hence one can lose interest easily.
The author seems to have researched in detail on this subject to write about it in such detail.
Not sure if there are any books better than this one in this category. If yes, please recommend.