ORNAMENTALISM, by David Cannadine

Non-fiction; subtitled How the British saw the Empire. A dense, exhaustive analysis of what it meant to be British, the subject of the British Empire, the most powerful political and economic entity in the history of the world.  Many fascinating details about the administration of the Empire; the section on honors was eye-opening. Not for the casual reader, but for a reader of historical fiction involving the Raj or the British Empire, this is well worth your time and will enrich your reading with background you'd not otherwise easily come upon. For history, this is amazingly readable. A3+.