25 h 18 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the man telling you about murder speaks with the calm pride of a craftsman?
In Meadows Taylor’s Confessions of a Thug, Ameer Ali sits before an English officer and tells his life story. Captured, but not pleading for pity, he describes his place among travelling killers on India’s roads. His calm voice draws you close to a brotherhood whose loyalty goes hand in hand with cruelty.
Ameer Ali explains how the band moves among ordinary travellers, hiding behind the appearance of merchants, pilgrims or soldiers. He recalls its rules, rites and friendships, and claims that the goddess Bhowani guides its work. As his account unfolds, you must decide how far to trust a man who takes pride in his deadly trade.
What you’ll discover
- A captive’s unsettling voice Hear Ameer Ali describe terrible acts with the steady confidence of a skilled worker.
- Danger among ordinary travellers Follow a band whose everyday disguises conceal its purpose on the roads of India.
- The rules of brotherhood Explore the roles, rites and loyalties that hold Ameer Ali’s band together.
- Faith in the telling Discover how Ameer Ali invokes Bhowani, omens and religious duty to explain the band’s actions.
- Tenderness beside cruelty Meet men whose warmth toward friends and families sits uneasily beside their violence.
Who will love it
Readers who love adventure on the roads of old India, true crime told from the inside, and a narrator who is charming, boastful and haunted at once.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A killer tells his life to an Englishman
- A kind stranger changes a child's life
- A curious boy is drawn into the brotherhood
- Omens, oaths and a first murder witnessed
- The first kill and the art of the lure
- A dancing girl and a daring escape
- Hyderabad, a city of rich and easy prey
- Marriage, ambition and a band of his own
- Fate, faith and the thrill of the hunt
Who’s who
- Ameer AliThe narrator, brave and charming, adopted as a child and raised to call himself a Syud, who becomes a feared Thug leader and tells his life to an Englishman.
- IsmailA powerful Thug leader who raises Ameer Ali as his son and wants to see him rise to the top of the brotherhood.
- BhudrinathA short, cheerful Brahmin inveigler of great skill, who becomes Ameer Ali's close friend and teacher in the art of the lure.
- Peer KhanA loyal grave-digger turned trusted lieutenant who stands by Ameer Ali on his expeditions and gives him careful advice.
- ZoraA beautiful dancing girl from Hyderabad who longs to escape her master and wins Ameer Ali's heart.
- AzimaA young wife who flees a harsh husband and whose gentle love gives Ameer Ali a family and a home.
- GaneshaA fierce, harsh Thug leader who stirs jealousy and quarrels with Ameer Ali and his father.
- CheetooA famous Pindharee chief who gathers thousands of horsemen to raid the Deccan and rewards skill with high command.
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- Audiobook
- 25 h 18 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Confesiones de un thug
by Meadows Taylor · 1839
A prisoner in irons tells his English captor how he became a Thug, and how the brotherhood works.
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In short
How does a five-year-old boy become a man who strangles strangers for a living? Meadows Taylor's Confessions of a Thug lets you hear it from the killer himself.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A killer tells his life to an Englishman
The book is framed as a series of talks. An English officer, who stands in for the author, sits down with Ameer Ali, a captured Thug who now works as an informer. The officer writes down everything so that readers in England will understand a crime they can hardly believe.
Taylor says in his introduction that the tale is almost entirely true. He met Ameer Ali in 1832, and the man's confessions were checked by digging up graves at places the informers named. Ameer Ali is proud, polite and well spoken, and he insists that the officer will find him a man of honor in everything but his trade.
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What is Confessions of a Thug about?
It is the life story of Ameer Ali, a Thug who lures travelers into friendship and then strangles them. He tells it to an English officer after being captured and turned informer.
Is Confessions of a Thug a true story?
It is a novel built on fact. Meadows Taylor says he met a real informer in 1832 and based the story on confessions that officials checked by digging up victims' graves. Only the links between events are invented.
What does the word Thug mean in the book?
Here it means someone in a secret brotherhood of professional stranglers who worship the goddess Bhowanee. They work in bands, lure travelers with false friendship, kill them with a cloth and bury the bodies.
The author
Meadows Taylor
1808–1876 · British administrator and novelist
Philip Meadows Taylor was a British administrator and novelist. He was born in Liverpool in 1808 and went to India in 1824. He worked there for many years, including as an administrator in Shorapur. His novel Confessions of a Thug appeared in 1839. He died in Menton, France, in 1876.
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