Wanderers, Adventurers, Missionaries : Early Americans in India
Author: Anuradha Kumar
Brand: Speaking Tiger
Binding: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 384
Release Date: 10-04-2025
Details: In 1833, Frederic Tudor, an American businessman, made history when he shipped 180 pounds of ice harvested from Walden Pond in Boston, to Calcuttaâthis luxury item being much in demand amongst the elites of British India. Tudor was deservedly christened the âIce Kingâ, and soon built a flourishing trade exporting American ice to India.
Others were drawn to the country by less materialistic goals. Like the âmedical missionariesâ who were deeply concerned with the âwomenâs conditionâ in India. Ida Scudderâs efforts in the 1900s resulted in the setting up of the Christian Medical College in Vellore, which continues to save lives till this day; in 1873, âDoctor Miss Sahibaâ Clara Swain set up the first hospital for women and children in Asia, in Bareilly, on land donated by the Nawab of Rampur.
There were also those who came to stay. Twenty-two-year-old Samuel Evans Stokes came to Kotgarh in the Himalayan foothills in 1904, embraced Hinduism and became Satyanand Stokes. He revolutionized apple cultivation in the area, now in Himachal Pradesh, by introducing the âRed Deliciousâ apples of Missouri; today, his descendants still live and work in the region. Likewise, the Alter family. Martha and David Emmet Alter arrived in Mussoorie in 1917, to spend the summer studying at the Landour Language School; in 1941, Emmet became principal of Woodstock School, just around the hillside. Twenty-five years later, his son Robert occupied the same position. Robertâs son Stephen continues to live in Mussoorie, pursuing a successful writing career; his cousin Tom Alter was a much-loved actor in Indian films until he passed away in 2017.
These are just some of the âfirst Americans in Indiaâ who came here, beginning in the 1700s, with different motives and dreamsâas adventurers, traders, reformers, writers and artists. All of them, without exception, were fascinated, astonished, moved and, in the end, profoundly changed by their âIndian experienceâ.
Anuradha Kumarâs skilful and well-researched account of these early visitors makes this an important and engrossing book that informs, surprises and amuses in equal measure.
EAN: 9789363360808
Package Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
Languages: English
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Author: Anuradha Kumar
Brand: Speaking Tiger
Binding: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 384
Release Date: 10-04-2025
Details: In 1833, Frederic Tudor, an American businessman, made history when he shipped 180 pounds of ice harvested from Walden Pond in Boston, to Calcuttaâthis luxury item being much in demand amongst the elites of British India. Tudor was deservedly christened the âIce Kingâ, and soon built a flourishing trade exporting American ice to India.
Others were drawn to the country by less materialistic goals. Like the âmedical missionariesâ who were deeply concerned with the âwomenâs conditionâ in India. Ida Scudderâs efforts in the 1900s resulted in the setting up of the Christian Medical College in Vellore, which continues to save lives till this day; in 1873, âDoctor Miss Sahibaâ Clara Swain set up the first hospital for women and children in Asia, in Bareilly, on land donated by the Nawab of Rampur.
There were also those who came to stay. Twenty-two-year-old Samuel Evans Stokes came to Kotgarh in the Himalayan foothills in 1904, embraced Hinduism and became Satyanand Stokes. He revolutionized apple cultivation in the area, now in Himachal Pradesh, by introducing the âRed Deliciousâ apples of Missouri; today, his descendants still live and work in the region. Likewise, the Alter family. Martha and David Emmet Alter arrived in Mussoorie in 1917, to spend the summer studying at the Landour Language School; in 1941, Emmet became principal of Woodstock School, just around the hillside. Twenty-five years later, his son Robert occupied the same position. Robertâs son Stephen continues to live in Mussoorie, pursuing a successful writing career; his cousin Tom Alter was a much-loved actor in Indian films until he passed away in 2017.
These are just some of the âfirst Americans in Indiaâ who came here, beginning in the 1700s, with different motives and dreamsâas adventurers, traders, reformers, writers and artists. All of them, without exception, were fascinated, astonished, moved and, in the end, profoundly changed by their âIndian experienceâ.
Anuradha Kumarâs skilful and well-researched account of these early visitors makes this an important and engrossing book that informs, surprises and amuses in equal measure.
EAN: 9789363360808
Package Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
Languages: English
