“william dalrymple”

James Achilles Kirkpatrick landed on the shores of eighteenth-century India as an ambitious soldier of the East India Company. Although eager to make his name in the subjection of a nation, it was he who was conquered—not by an army but by a Muslim Indian princess. Kirkpatrick was the British Resi... More

As the author of the best travel book of recent years at theintensely irritating age of twenty-two, William Dalrymple has now shown that In Xanadu wasno fluke. City of Djinns is an entertaining mix of history and diaryinformed by a deep curiosity about the ways in which the ghosts  of eventhe m... More

In Xanadu is, without doubt, one of the best travel books produced in the last 20 years. It is witty and intelligent, brilliantly observed, deftly constructed and extremely entertaining. Dalrymple’s gift for transforming ordinary humdrum experience into something extraordinary and timeless sugg... More

‘In his third book William Dalrymple has dug deep to present the case of the Middle East’s downtrodden Christians. More hard-hitting than either of his previous books, From the Holy Mountain is driven by indignation. While leavened with his characteristic jauntiness and humour, it is also profou... More

Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize for History 2007Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the last Mughal Emperor, was a mystic, a talented poet, and a skilled calligrapher, who, though deprived of real political power by the East India Company, succeeded in creating a court of great brilliance, and presided over one ... More

A Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet—then spends years trying to atone for the violence by hand-printing the best prayer flags in India. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve to death. A woman leaves her middle-cla... More

William Dalrymple chronicles ten years of living and traveling in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India. Here he discovers a region falling into a time of darkness, discord and disintegration which according to ancient Hindu cosmology is known as the Age of Kali. Despite the area's strife and discontent, D... More

The author describes his year spent in Delhi, India, reflecting on the city's history and culture, including religious practices, industry, the arts, festivals and entertainment, and social customs... More