The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell

J. G. Farrell's Booker Prize winning novel is based on the true uprising of Muslim soldiers on the British compound in Krishnapur in 1857.  The novel depicts bloody battles between the British & Muslim soldiers and the months of resistance & isolation of the Brits. The holdout depict the slow demise of civilization from hunger, disease & despair.  Farrell brilliantly writes of the British imperialistic convictions and the transformation of ideas of progress & equality.  England is far from being the only nation quilty of foreign domination or a prevailing class society.  The killings of so many Brits made it apparent "India itself was now a different place; the fiction of happy natives being led forward along the road to civilization could no longer be sustained." While under siege, issues of class and living in harmony are vigorously debated.   Many of the British captives maintained their's "a superior civilization…our advances in science and morality have so obviously found the best way of doing things." Yet, others came to differing epiphanies. "How alike we all are, really…There's so little difference between one man and another when one comes to think of it." This historic & discerning novel depicts an epic revolt amidst the downfall of varying convictions.