Children of Kali (Kevin Rushby) lands on the shelves of my shop, where it will be found in my History India section. priced at just £4.00!
London: Constable, 2002, (First Edition) Hardback in dust wrapper.
Contains: Colour photographs; Maps [1]; Maps to the endpapers and blanks; Glossary;
From the cover: They murdered more than a million Indian travellers without spilling a drop of blood. They were inspired by religious fanaticism, yet came from many faiths. Their weapon was the handkerchief, their sacrament sugar, and their goddess Kali. They were the thugs, the greatest criminal gang in history and one supposedly exterminated by the British in the 1830s.
The modern day bandit Veerappan is also responsible for many murders more than a hundred. Still at large in the jungles of India, he avoids capture, his followers claim, by magical powers. Some say he is a freedom fighter, others that he is a vicious killer. He is Indias most wanted man and its most notorious criminal.
Two criminal legends: one ancient, one modern, but both deceptions, distorted and misused by those in power to further their own ends. In Children of Kali, the author of the highly acclaimed Hunting Pirate Heaven, investigates the dark side of India. His quest to uncover the reality behind Veerappans story and that of the thugs takes him to prisons and gangster hideouts, probing the nature of crime and punishment in a country where good and evil may be as murky as the Ganges. Rulers with underworld connections, politicians without scruples, bandits as social workers and heroes all the elements of misrule are here.
Part history and part personal record, Children of Kali reveals how British India demonized millions as hereditary criminals, setting off a witch-hunt whose effects are still felt today. It is a book about the misunderstandings of what is alien and exotic, and few things have been more misunderstood than the nature of Kali herself
Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper.
Black boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. [XI] 292 pages. Index. Bibliography. 9½” x 6¼”.
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