Lord Curzon: The Last of the British Moghuls (Oxford India Paperbacks) Book

Dazzling, dedicated, some would say cast in an heroic mold, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India was the last of the great British Moghuls. But it was also Curzon who was responsible for the partitioning of Bengal, an act which was to fuel widespread resentment and to foreshadow the Raj's demise. At thirty-nine, Curzon was the youngest Viceroy to be sent out to India. Yet, six years later, he was to return home a broken man, his viceroyalty in shambles, only to be dispossessed of the Prime Ministership he thought rightfully his. Goradia is the first of Curzon's biographers to examine the effects of Curzon being continually feted throughout his childhood, first by an adoring mother, and later by his male teachers and fellow pupils and students. Though he rose to every challenge, what bordered on narcissism was tragically to pursue him throughout adulthood, even in his first marriage to Mary, the first American-born vicerine, and most particularly in the struggle for power with Lord Kitcherner, in his eight-year affair with Elinor Glyn, and in his hopes of becoming Prime Minister. Goradia shows that there is also evidence of sado-masochistic tendencies. This is the first biography of Curzon to show how the unresolved problems of childhood were to pursue throughout his time as Viceroy of India.Read More