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The Last Englishmen

Love, War, and the End of Empire

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The Last Englishmen

Auteur(s): Deborah Baker
Narrateur(s): James Cameron Stewart
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À propos de cet audio

John Auden was a pioneering geologist of the Himalayas. Michael Spender was the first to draw a detailed map of the North Face of Mount Everest. While their younger brothers - W. H. Auden and Stephen Spender - achieved literary fame, they vied to be included on an expedition that would deliver Everest's summit to an Englishman, a quest that had become a metaphor for Britain's struggle to maintain power over India. To this rivalry was added another: In the summer of 1938, both men fell in love with a painter named Nancy Sharp. Her choice would determine where each man's wartime loyalties would lie.

Set in Calcutta, London, the glacier-locked wilds of the Karakoram, and on Everest itself, The Last Englishmen is also the story of a generation. The cast of this exhilarating drama includes Indian and English writers and artists, explorers and Communist spies, Die Hards and Indian nationalists, political rogues and police informers. Key among them is a highborn Bengali poet named Sudhin Datta, a melancholy soul torn, like many of his generation, between hatred of the British Empire and a deep love of European literature, whose life would be upended by the arrival of war on his Calcutta doorstep.

©2018 Deborah Baker (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Art et littérature Asie Auteurs Divertissement et célébrités Europe Grande-Bretagne Monde Voyageurs et explorateurs Célébrité Angleterre Guerre Impérialisme
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I liked the premise of this book, so started listening. I knew I was missing some of the connections between characters, but carried on… until I got 1/2 way through and it was pre-WWII (an area of interest) and realized I had missed a lot. So I chose to start again from the beginning and made sure I wasn’t multitasking while listening. I also read some reviews, which helped me with context. One review said the book was written for someone who already had a good understanding of India history (which I don’t have, hence why I was missing stuff, a good ah ha). I wasn’t too worried about the huge list of characters, some of who only appear once or twice, after I took time to make notes on the main ones (John [brother Wystan], Michael [brother Stephen], Nancy), and could refer back to. I’ve not put this amount of effort into an audiobook before, but it was worth it.
From Michael Spender’s life, I enjoyed learning about how surveyors work (the “triangles”), and why this was so important for the Everest climbs. I was also fascinated by his groundbreaking work in WWII, enlarging and interpreting arial photography, to identify troop movements and such. I’m inspired to learn more about India’s history, and may re-listen one day.

Great book, worth the effort

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