Peter Robb – författare

Peter Robb's journey into the dark heart of Sicily uses history, painting, literature and food to shed light on southern Italy's legacy of political corruption and violent crime. Taking the trial of seven-times Prime Minister, Giulio Andreotti, for alleged Mafia involvement as its starting point, Midnight in Sicily combines a searching investigation with an exuberant, sensual appreciation of this beautiful and bewildering island.

This volume examines whether there were South Asian concepts of race, or, as has often been argued, race became an issue in the subcontinent only under Western influence after the eighteenth century.

This fresh and up-to-date interpretation of India's rich and extraordinary history, written by a leading authority in the field, explores themes in ancient, medieval and especially modern India. Peter Robb's accessible study analyses India's civilizations, empires and regions through the ages, and now also evaluates present-day developments and opportunities.A History of India, Second Edition• examines the relationships between politics, religious belief, social order, environment and economic change• assesses, from c. 1860, British colonialism, Indian nationalism and nation-building, popular protest movements, religious revivals, and re-inventions of caste, community and gender• discusses long-term economic development, the impact of global trade, and the origins of rural poverty• has been revised in the light of the latest scholarship, and now features a Chronology as well as a fully reworked final chapter which brings the story up to the present day and carefully considers India's prospects and new roles in the world.Centred around clearly expressed and well argued topics, issues and explanations, A History of India remains the ideal introduction for all those who wish to understand the drama and vitality of India's past, its present situation and its future challenges.

This fresh and up-to-date interpretation of India's rich and extraordinary history, written by a leading authority in the field, explores themes in ancient, medieval and especially modern India. Peter Robb's accessible study analyses India's civilizations, empires and regions through the ages, and now also evaluates present-day developments and opportunities.A History of India, Second Edition• examines the relationships between politics, religious belief, social order, environment and economic change• assesses, from c. 1860, British colonialism, Indian nationalism and nation-building, popular protest movements, religious revivals, and re-inventions of caste, community and gender• discusses long-term economic development, the impact of global trade, and the origins of rural poverty• has been revised in the light of the latest scholarship, and now features a Chronology as well as a fully reworked final chapter which brings the story up to the present day and carefully considers India's prospects and new roles in the world.Centred around clearly expressed and well argued topics, issues and explanations, A History of India remains the ideal introduction for all those who wish to understand the drama and vitality of India's past, its present situation and its future challenges.

This book looks at agriculture, development, poverty and British rule in India, especially in the Patna Division in Bihar between c.1870–1920. It traces the economic influence of British policies and maps the impact of legal, administrative and scientific interventions to rural conditions and norms in the state.The book discusses British theories and policies of ‘improvement’, comparing them with Bihar’s agricultural practice and socio-economic conditions to draw conclusions about rural impoverishment. Following on from his earlier book, Ancient Rights and Future Comfort on the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885, the author also presents case studies on famines, debts, canal and village irrigation, flood-protection and the cultivation and production of indigo, opium and sugar. He analyses extensive archival material to reflect on property law, scientific interventions, cropping patterns, trade and intermediaries. He examines the economic role of governments, Eurocentric development theories and the complex impact of development policy on agriculture and society in Bihar.The book will be of interest to academics and students of colonial history, modern Indian history, agrarian studies, economic history, sociology, and development studies. It will also be useful to development practitioners and researchers working on the history of agrarian conditions and public policy.

Informative, timely and accessible introduction to the study of South Asia by leading scholars in the field.

Informative, timely and accessible introduction to the study of South Asia by leading scholars in the field.

The first systematic attempt to introduce a full range of Japanese scholarship on the agrarian history of British India to the English-language reader. Suggests the fundamental importance of an Asian comparative perspective for the understanding of Indian history.

This book analyses the character of British rule in nineteenth-century India, by focusing on the underlying ideas and the practical repercussions of agrarian policy. It argues that the great rent law debate and the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885 helped constitute a revolution in the effective aims of government and in the colonial ability to interfere in India, but that they did so alongside a continuing weakness of understanding and in effective local control. In particular, the book considers the importance of notions of historical rights and economic progress to the false categorisations made of agrarian structure. It shows that the Tenancy Act helped to widen social disparities in rural Bihar, and to create political interests on the land.

Delving into Brazil's baroque past, Peter Robb writes about its history of slavery and the richly multicultural but disturbed society that was left in its wake when the practice was abolished in the late nineteenth century. Even today, Brazil is a nation of almost unimaginable distance between its wealthy and its poor, a place of extraordinary levels of crime and violence. It is also one of the most beautiful and seductive places on earth. Using the art, food and the books of its great nineteenth-century writer, Machado de Assis, Robb takes us on a journey into a world like Conrad's "Nostromo". A world so absurdly dramatic, like the current president Lula's fight for power, that it could have come from one of the country's immensely popular TV soap operas, a world where resolution is often only provided by death. Like all the best travel writing, "A Death in Brazil" immerses you deep into the heart of a fascinating country.

This book looks at agriculture, development, poverty and British rule in India, especially in the Patna Division in Bihar between c.1870–1920. It traces the economic influence of British policies and maps the impact of legal, administrative and scientific interventions to rural conditions and norms in the state.The book discusses British theories and policies of ‘improvement’, comparing them with Bihar’s agricultural practice and socio-economic conditions to draw conclusions about rural impoverishment. Following on from his earlier book, Ancient Rights and Future Comfort on the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885, the author also presents case studies on famines, debts, canal and village irrigation, flood-protection and the cultivation and production of indigo, opium and sugar. He analyses extensive archival material to reflect on property law, scientific interventions, cropping patterns, trade and intermediaries. He examines the economic role of governments, Eurocentric development theories and the complex impact of development policy on agriculture and society in Bihar.The book will be of interest to academics and students of colonial history, modern Indian history, agrarian studies, economic history, sociology, and development studies. It will also be useful to development practitioners and researchers working on the history of agrarian conditions and public policy.

First published in 1983, Rural India intends to provide pictures of Indian rural society in the past, from the standpoint of relationships and exchanges between the countryside and the more general physical and cultural context of which it is a part. A predominant theme is control over land and people. Others are the impact of British rule, the political role of local networks and ties, and the response to and internalising of external stimuli. Attempts are made to examine the concepts employed by scholars in relation to the perceptions of the villagers and similarly to interpret economic and social data in radical ways. This book will be of interest to student of South Asian studies, history, economics and agriculture.

First published in 1983, Rural South Asia examines questions of change and development in terms of linkages between localities and the outside world. The authors examine the response specifically to the introduction of a ‘modern’ features of production, the importance of physical, cultural and economic communication, and the impact of various development efforts. This book will be of interest to student of South Asian studies, history, economics and agriculture.

First published in 1983, Rural South Asia examines questions of change and development in terms of linkages between localities and the outside world. The authors examine the response specifically to the introduction of a ‘modern’ features of production, the importance of physical, cultural and economic communication, and the impact of various development efforts. This book will be of interest to student of South Asian studies, history, economics and agriculture.

First published in 1978, Rural, Protest, Identity consists of eleven essays on modern South Asia. Its concern is with the diversity of the region, to suggest how its study may be enriched by the juxtaposition of various disciplines, and in particular through the examination of familiar subjects from less familiar points of view. Four papers deal with the ruling of modern India. One examines the relationship between the British government and an Indian state, one the legal implications of the emergency under Mrs. Gandhi, and two the role of civil servants in the formation of Indian government policy. Four more papers deal with aspects of protest movements: one with British Ceylon, one with a follower of Gandhi, and two with Gandhi himself. Three final papers treat questions of identity from literary or linguistic standpoints. Two discuss ideas or stereotypes as expressed in famous books, and the third considers a linguistic movement in Pakistan. This book will be of interest to student of South Asian studies, history, economics, literature and political science.

First published in 1978, Rural, Protest, Identity consists of eleven essays on modern South Asia. Its concern is with the diversity of the region, to suggest how its study may be enriched by the juxtaposition of various disciplines, and in particular through the examination of familiar subjects from less familiar points of view. Four papers deal with the ruling of modern India. One examines the relationship between the British government and an Indian state, one the legal implications of the emergency under Mrs. Gandhi, and two the role of civil servants in the formation of Indian government policy. Four more papers deal with aspects of protest movements: one with British Ceylon, one with a follower of Gandhi, and two with Gandhi himself. Three final papers treat questions of identity from literary or linguistic standpoints. Two discuss ideas or stereotypes as expressed in famous books, and the third considers a linguistic movement in Pakistan. This book will be of interest to student of South Asian studies, history, economics, literature and political science.

This book explores the intersection of public and private temporal systems. Examining Calcutta between 1780 and 1830, it reveals how time functioned as both a regulatory mechanism of emerging colonial governance and a deeply personal construct that continued to reflect pre-colonial norms and practices.The author navigates the complex temporal landscape of early colonial Calcutta, where European clock-based standardisation encountered and co-existed with indigenous temporal frameworks. The analysis illuminates how time manifested across diverse contexts—from distance perception and collective memory to religious festivals, scientific endeavours, financial transactions and labour relations. It assesses extensions of law, imperfections of policy and both European and Indian reactions. Drawing upon a rich tapestry of sources, including the collection of Richard Blechynden's diaries and papers, this study offers unprecedented insight into daily temporal experiences of both Europeans and Indians which (it is argued) foreshadowed major changes to come. It will be significant reading for scholars and researchers of colonialism, South Asian history, India-England relations, temporal studies and modern Indian history.

This book analyses the character of British rule in nineteenth-century India, by focusing on the underlying ideas and the practical repercussions of agrarian policy. It argues that the great rent law debate and the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885 helped constitute a revolution in the effective aims of government and in the colonial ability to interfere in India, but that they did so alongside a continuing weakness of understanding and in effective local control. In particular, the book considers the importance of notions of historical rights and economic progress to the false categorisations made of agrarian structure. It shows that the Tenancy Act helped to widen social disparities in rural Bihar, and to create political interests on the land.

The first systematic attempt to introduce a full range of Japanese scholarship on the agrarian history of British India to the English-language reader. Suggests the fundamental importance of an Asian comparative perspective for the understanding of Indian history.

The controversial, ground-breaking biography of Caravaggio'A great read; it grabs, it kicks, it lives ... Feel the force of Caravaggio's cutting edge' Guardian‘Written in a vehemently passionate and colloquial style ... it is full of energy' TelegraphM is the name of an enigma. In his short and violent life, Michaelangelo Merisi, from Caravaggio, changed art for ever. In the process he laid bare his own sexual longing and the brutal realities of his life with shocking frankness.Like no painter before him and few since, M the man appears in his art. As a book about art and life and how they connect, there has never been anything quite like it.

Naples is always a shock, flaunting beauty and squalor like nowhere else. It is the only city in Europe whose ancient past still lives in its irrepressible people. In 1503, Naples was the Mediterranean capital of Spain's world empire and the base for the Christian struggle with Islam. It was a European metropolis matched only by Paris and Istanbul, an extraordinary concentration of military power, lavish consumption, poverty and desperation. It was to Naples in 1606 that Michelangelo Merisi fled after a fatal street fight, and there released a great age in European art - until everything erupted in a revolt by the dispossessed, and the people of an occupied city brought Europe into the modern world.Ranging across nearly three thousand years of Neapolitan life and art, from the first Greek landings in Italy to the author's own, less auspicious, arrival thirty-something years ago, Street Fight in Naples brings vividly to life the tumultuous and, at times, tragic history of Naples.

For most of us Christmas is the season of huge helpings of good food, good drink, and with luck, good cheer, as the rituals of cracker-pulling, present-giving and happy or sulphurous family reunions fizzle and bang through the long afternoon. For anyone who has ever had too much of it, or felt out of it, or wanted to be out of it, or even succeeded in being out of it then been unexpectedly rescued by a good friend, this book-length poem contains a lifeline of humour and sanity in a world run seasonally mad. It is a funny, subversive, melancholy, self-mocking conversation between two men - Paul and Frank - in the top storey flat of a Dublin apartment block; a Stations of Christmas under the influence of "woman-hunger". Once read, Christmas Day itself will never be the same again.The volume also contains a second new work, "A Goose in the Frost", a tribute to Seamus Heaney on winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.