Macaulay: Britain’s Liberal Imperialist

by Zareer Masani

Thomas Macaulay always inspired both admiration and hostility. He introduced English education to India, creating a class of westernised Indians often reviled as ‘Macaulay’s children’, but today many former ‘Untouchables’ literally worship him as their liberator from caste tyranny.This biography gives a vivid insight into one of the towering intellects of Victorian a brilliant, complex, self-made man, who rose from middle-class origins to the highest circles of the world’s largest empire. We follow his meteoric journey from child prodigy to Whig parliamentary orator, then imperial administrator and liberal reformer in India, and later Cabinet minister, revered elder statesman and famed historian back in Britain. Zareer Masani reclaims Macaulay as a pioneer of globalisation based on the English language and Western values. A strong advocate of liberal interventionism across the globe, he was the ideological precursor of today's Western military interventions in the world’s trouble-spots.

Genres: History, India

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 4, 2013

Reviews

[Jeff Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. His role in India and his personal life are thoroughly covered, but the book could have included more details about his literary career.

[VENKATRAMAN C K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully written. Macaulay was indeed a great benefactor to India. A man who was far ahead of his times and who shaped the future of India.