Product Description

Never in recorded history has there been a group of murderers as deadly as the Thugs. For nearly two centuries, groups of these lethal criminals haunted the roads of India, slaughtering travellers whom they met along the way with such efficiency, that over the years tens of thousands of men, women and children simply vanished without trace. Mike Dash, one of our best popular historians, has devoted years to combing archives in both India and Britain to discover how the Thugs lived and worked. Painstakingly researched and grippingly written, "Thug" tells, for the first time the full story of the Thugs' rise and fall from its beginnings in the late seventeenth century, to its eventual demise at the hands of British officer William Sleeman, in 1840.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #161685 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
"* 'Dash brings a confident organisation to his material, a rapid grasp of both personality and circumstance, and a bold eye for significant detail' The Telegraph * 'Fascinating and immensely readable' TLS * 'The thrillerish pace is kept up throughout, the storming narrative grounded in historical and political detail... a gripping read' Geographical magazine * 'Excellently written and well researched book...Thug is an invaluable guide' The Times * 'Dash picks his way through this tale with a steady and determined manner...Thug is a reliable and meticulous piece of work' Guardian * 'The book is a mix of many genres: social history, detective novel, crime thriller, political narrative...an entertaining read' Indian Express"

About the Author
Mike Dash is a Cambridge educated historian. He has worked as a magazine publisher, and is the author of four previous books including the bestsellers Tulipomania and Batavia's Graveyard. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

thug
This excellent book is well written and well researched.It deals with the history of the Thuggee clans from early times upto the 1850s when the murderous tribes were finally suppresed.
The Thugs were credited with killing between 50,000 and one million travellers by strangulation from the c15-to 19 centuries It wasnt till 1829 when William Sleeman was made head of the Thuggee and Dacoity Department of the East India Company that positive caction was taken.
Sleeman developed advanced investigation and policing methods which among other things involved extensive daata collection.
The trials of the 1830s had a major impact and many hundreds were executed or imprisoned and it would appear the murders had stopped by the 1840s and the matter concluded by the early 1850s.
There are excellent notes,glossary,gazzeter and bibliography allof which take up 55 pages
The illustrations really make the book and are outstanding.
A book to be recommended.

The truth is stranger than fiction
The Thugs were a criminal tribe in India and their story makes fascinating reading. They were responsible for the murder of thousands of Indians, in the last century This book is absolutely gripping at times and a good read.

The book is also full of interesting facts as an example the great carpet at Windsor castle has 400 knots to a sq inch. Some of the thugs who were captured were put to work on this carpet and they took ten years to make it in their prison in Agra.

Some non fiction books make you think it's a strange world -

This book is one of them - If you are looking for something to read one afternoon, then this is a good Book. If you are thinking of finding something to read at night, then this is a bad book as it may keep you up all night.

LIKES THE WORD INVEIGLE

I have not finished this book yet, however I am becoming weary of the continued use of the word "inveigled" and descriptions of the strangling item, ok I get it a scarf or a piece of fabric - surely the first ninety pages could be condensed down to forty or so, especially after a tremendously descriptive ominous and scary opening. Nevertheless, hopefully the story moves on with Mr Sleeman.