Raffles and the Golden Opportunity by Victoria Glendinning

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Previous owner has signed inside cover.

Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) was the charismatic and persuasive founder of Singapore and the Governor of Java. An English adventurer, disobedient employee of the East India Company, utopian imperialist, linguist, zoologist and civil servant, he carved an extraordinary (though brief) life for himself in South East Asia. Victoria Glendinning charts his prodigious rise within his world's social and historical contexts. His domestic and personal life was vivid and shot through with tragedy. His own end was sad, but his fame is immortal. (back cover)