Who wrote 'An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India'?

Correct — A. An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India is by Shashi Tharoor. It grew out of his 2015 speech at the Oxford Union on whether Britain owed reparations to its former colonies.

The book won him the Sahitya Akademi Award for English for 2019 → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Vikram Seth — Vikram Seth is a novelist and poet, best known for A Suitable Boy. He did not write this account of British rule.
• (c)
  Pavan Varma — Pavan Varma, a former diplomat, wrote The Great Indian Middle Class. This book on the British Empire is Tharoor's.
• (d)
  Romila Thapar — Romila Thapar is a historian of early India, not of the British Empire. The title belongs to Shashi Tharoor.

Tharoor's book argues that British rule exploited India. It began as a 2015 Oxford Union debate speech that spread widely online, and his publisher suggested turning it into a book.

In Britain it appeared as Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India (Hurst, 2017).

Key facts

• An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India is by Shashi Tharoor, published in India by Aleph Book Company.
• Its British edition is titled Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India.
• It won the Sahitya Akademi Award (English) for 2019.
• It grew from Tharoor's 2015 Oxford Union speech on reparations.

Common traps

• Choosing Romila Thapar because the title sounds like a history. She writes on early India, not the Raj.
• Missing the book under its British title. Inglorious Empire is the same work.

No directly related past PYQ was found.