Readers of Trollope must wonder whether the clergymen who inhabit his cathedral closes and rural parsonages are true to life. The answer is yes. The Passing of Barchester provides an answer by a vivid account of the careers of a Victorian Dean of Canterbury and of the eight close relations he appointed to benefices.

Clive Dewey breathes life into the Dean, a redoubtable high churchman, and his relatives, as they worked their parishes, married eligible brides, made miniature grand tours on the Continent and congregated around Canterbury, the focus of their social life.

The...

In the years between the Indian Mutiny and Independence in 1947 the Indian Civil Service was the most powerful body of officials in the English-speaking world. 300,000,000 Indians, a sixth of the human race, were ruled by 1000 Civilians. With Whitehall 8000 miles away and the peasantry content with their decisions, they had the freedom to translate ideas into action. Anglo-lndian Attitudes explores the use they made of their power by examining the beliefs of two middle ranking Civilians. It shows, in great detail, how they put into practice values which they acquired from their parents,...