Darkest India

Booth-Tucker, Frederick St. George De Lautour, 185Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.3

Word count: 279K words
Chapters: 28

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Darkest India by Frederick St. George De Lautour Booth-TuckerAuthor: Booth-Tucker, Frederick St. George De Lautour, 1853-1929,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

Darkest India is a work by Frederick St. George De Lautour Booth-Tucker, prepared by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook and classified under DS (History of Asia) in the Library of Congress scheme. Judging from the title and the author's identity, the book is an observation of Indian society set against the Western missionary and philanthropic movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, marked by clear religious concern and reformist aims. Its narrative records poverty, customs and social conditions while also containing the author's own value judgments. For today's readers its main value lies in offering a sample of a particular era's Western perspective, useful for studying colonial-era social writing about India, missionary discourse, and how rhetoric such as "darkest" was used to construct images of the East. Readers should separate the book's descriptions from the author's stance, valuing its firsthand observational significance while remaining alert to its biases and simplifications. As a free electronic text, it suits use as supplementary material on related topics rather than as a standalone introduction to Indian history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers studying colonial-era social writing about India
History enthusiasts interested in missionary history and Western images of the East
Humanities students who need public-domain English sources for textual analysis
Readers interested in late nineteenth-century discourses of social reform

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a systematic general history of India
Readers expecting neutral, objective social survey data
Readers who prefer contemporary perspectives and the latest research

Reading tips

First learn about the missionary and philanthropic movement the author belonged to, then assess the narrative's stance.
Read the book's descriptions alongside other contemporary accounts of India, comparing differences in wording among authors.
Mark value-laden adjectives while reading and keep a separate note for rhetorical analysis.
After finishing, consult modern works on Indian history to check the social institutions and events mentioned.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How should "Darkest" in the title be understood?

The term was a common rhetorical device in Western writing about non-Western regions at the time, implying that the place was benighted and in need of salvation. It reflects the author's religious concern and period mindset rather than an objective summary of Indian society. Read it as a textual phenomenon to be analyzed, not as a factual judgment.

Can this book be cited directly as source material on Indian history?

It can be cited as a primary text representing a particular era's Western perspective, but it is not suitable as an objective data source on Indian social conditions. When citing, state the author's identity, background and stance, and compare with modern historical scholarship to avoid treating the book's descriptions as neutral facts.

Can I understand it without background knowledge?

You can read it, but comprehension will suffer. The book deals extensively with the social customs, religious groups and reform movements of the time, and without background it is easy to misread the author's evaluations. It is advisable to first acquire basic knowledge of nineteenth-century Indian colonial history and missionary movements, or to read alongside introductory materials.

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About the author

Booth-Tucker, Frederick St. George De Lautour, 185 Author · British · 1853–1929

Frederick St. George De Lautour Booth-Tucker (1853–1929) was a British officer of the Salvation Army who at different times was responsible for its affairs in India and in the United States. Drawing on his firsthand experience of overseas missionary and relief work, he wrote religious books, the best known being Darkest India, which grew out of what he observed during his time in India. His writing deals mainly with missionary work, social relief and religious life, and reflects the standpoint and exhortatory tone of his religious organization. Public information on his education, specific posts and the reception of his works is limited; only one of his titles is currently held here, which is not enough to assess his style and influence fully.