Underground Asia

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2021AN ECONOMIST AND HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020'Compelling and highly original ... The Asia that we see today is the product of the 'underground' which Harper describes with skill and empathy in this monumental work' Rana Mitter, Literary ReviewThe story of the hidden struggle waged by secret networks around the world to destroy European imperialismThe end of Europe's empires has so often been seen as a story of high politics and warfare. In Tim Harper's remarkable new book the narrative is very different: it shows how empires were fundamentally undermined from below. Using the new technology of cheap printing presses, global travel and the widespread use of French and English, young radicals from across Asia were able to communicate in ways simply not available before. These clandestine networks stretched to the heart of the imperial metropolises: to London, to Paris, to the Americas, but also increasingly to Moscow. They