New Delhi ― The Last Imperial City

In New Delhi: The Last Imperial City, Johnson provides an historically rich examination of the intersection of early twentieth-century imperial culture, imperial politics, and imperial economics as reflected in the colonial built environment at New Delhi, a remarkably ambitious imperial capital built by the British between 1911 and 1931. India's changed political conditions, exacerbated by previous colonial policies like the partition of Bengal, demanded a new approach to an India which was undergoing tremendous political, social, and economic transformations caused by its long interactions with Britain. At this critical moment and as the pre-eminent symbol of British imperial rule in India, New Delhi crucially displayed a double narrative of promised liberation and continued colonial dependence. This message, rich in ambiguity, created tension between a government intent on satisfying Indian demands for political reform with its equally important need to maintain absolute authority. Britain's last imperial capital in South Asia represented a new model of imperial hegemony based not simply on coercion but on Indian consent to further colonial rule.

David A. Johnson is a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA with research and teaching interests in British colonial history, transnational history, and urban history.