Product Description

Sir James Brooke was an extraordinary 'eminent' Victorian, whose life was the stuff of legend.His curious career began in 1841 when he was caught up in a war in Brunei which had started because a party of local Dayaks had refused to furl their umbrellas in the presence of the Sultan. Brooke was an opportunist who, with the Sultan's backing, made war on the Dayaks tribespeople and eventually found himself ruling over Sarawak - a kingdom the size of England - as a result. How he achieved it is a romantic, sometimes horrifying story. Brooke is someone that George Macdonald Fraser would scarcely dare to invent. Errol Flynn wanted to play him in a movie, seventy years after his death and his dynasty is remembered throughout South-East Asia.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #153394 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
'Fascinating reading' LITERARY REVIEW 'As a brief, even-handed and witty introduction to this extraordinary man [WHITE RAJAH] is hard to beat' BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE 'WHITE RAJAH is a unique biography of one of the most fascinating and influential men of the British Empire' GEOGRAPHICAL

About the Author
Nigel Barley is the author of six books, including THE INNOCENT ANTHROPOLOGIST and DANCING ON THE GRAVE. He is the curator of London's Museum of Mankind.

Customer Reviews

A true ripping yarn!
This rather splendid biography charts the life of one James Brooke who was once presummed dead after leading a cavalry charge but recovered to persuade his father, who was still counting the cost of buying James' brother an elephant, to purchase for him a ship so that he may find his fortune on the high seas. Eventually, due to the locals falsely assuming that he was an offical as opposed to the fact that he was only a private citizen, Brooke finds himself Governor of Sarawak. After surviving native attacks, falling through his bathroom floor and nearly drowning in the river below and smallpox (from which he recovered partially due to the nursing attributes of the public executioner) Brooke becomes the sort of hero that could oly arise from Victorian England. Nigel Barley portrays Brooke as a decent sort of chap who cares deelply for the people he governs in this easy to read and often witty biography. Brooke's adventures are at times so bizzare that the reader may have to remind themselves that this is actually a true story.