Aurangzeb

When history is weaponized for one's own politics and convenience, we need a dose of a reality check to know what is myth and truth. This book does that exactly.

I was worried if this would be an academic drag kind of read. To my surprise, this is a very readable book, crisp and clear in its intent. As a reader of Charu Nivedita's recent marvelous novel, Naan Thaan Aurangzeb, I found many things repetitive. But still, this book is a really good entry point for anyone interested in the life, stories, and mythology around Aurangzeb.

This book is an excellent of public-facing history that still foregrounds historical thinking. Truschke's basis her reframing of Aurangzeb on a fresh looks at existing sources--e.g. temple destruction--and incorporating additional sources--e.g. Persian histories and Aurangzeb's letters. The argument in the book is useful for showing students how revising historical knowledge should work. Truschke counters popular, but inaccurate constructions of Aurangzeb with a new narrative that, crucially, is transparently supported by careful analysis of a wide-variety of sources.