ia_2009_c_barnett

=Evaluation of Sources (250-400 words) Tips]=

Source one: Extract from “The Story of India” written by Michael Wood page 226 (apendix 1)

There are valuable aspects to this source, it clearly highlights several of the issues that caused much of the tension before the mutiny, such as the push for Christianity, changing the languages and the change in trade. As for the purpose of this source it was written by Michael Wood, a respected historian. Not only does Wood write books he has also presented several popular history programs for the BBC and American TV channel PBS. This book, “The Story of India”, was also presented as a six part history documentary in august 2007. For such information to be broadcast to tens of thousands of people it must be reliable. In terms of origin this book was written by Michael Wood at the same time as the documentary was being filmed, therefore he was in India at the time often getting fist hand accounts from Indian historians and politicians who knew about events such as the Mutiny. There are also some negative points about this source, in terms of its purpose the book was written as an accompanying text to the documentary series, therefore it is not an extremely long book at 250 pages, which could suggest that there isn’t as much detail as there could be as the whole text cover almost 600 years. Regarding the origin of the book as many of the sources used in it are first person accounts or taken from Indian literature, it could have been bias, notably the first person accounts.

Source two: Extract from “RAJ: The Making and Unmaking of British India” written by Lawrence James page 271 (apendix 2) This is a valuable source because it depicts the sort of people who were leading various mutinying groups, and gives an insight to the mentality of the mutineers themselves. This is shown through the idea that Ahmad Ulah Shah had “supernatural powers, which included an immunity from bullets” this shows that the Indian people were looking for a leader and put all their faith in him as he was an embodiment of hope, the future of the country “adored by the men he led into battle”. In terms of purpose this is a reliable book written by respected historian Lawrence James who has written several books about India and the British Empire, therefore it is a respected and reliable book. There are also negative aspects to this source, the purpose of this book is to inform people about the rise and fall of the British Empire, and it seems to be rather against the Indian rebels, “like other Muslim holy-men-turned-political-leaders, he was uncompromising”,