Overview

In 1611, thirty-four-year-old Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble and widow of a subversive official, became the twentieth and favorite wife of the Emperor Jahangir, who ruled the vast Mughal Empire. An astute politician as well as a devoted partner, she issued imperial orders; coins of the realm bore her name. When Jahangir was imprisoned by a rebellious nobleman, the Empress led troops into battle and ultimately rescued him. The only woman to acquire the stature of empress in her male-dominated world, Nur was also a talented dress designer and innovative architect whose work inspired her stepson's Taj Mahal. Nur's confident assertion of talent and power is revelatory; it far exceeded the authority of her female contemporaries in Renaissance Europe, including Elizabeth I. Here, she finally receives her due in a deeply researched and evocative biography that awakens us to a fascinating history.

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9781665136907

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Ruby Lal's marvelous account of Empress Nur Jahan's life is as intriguing, inspiring, and relevant to us today in twenty-first-century America as it was to her times in seventeenth-century India. -- Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran

"Ruby Lal's marvelous account of Empress Nur Jahan's life is as intriguing, inspiring, and relevant to us today in twenty-first-century America as it was to her times in seventeenth-century India."" -- ""Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran"""

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"Ruby Lal is professor of South Asian history at Emory University. She is the author of Coming of Age in Nineteenth Century India: The Girl-Child and the Art of Playfulness and Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World. Suzanne Toren, award-winning narrator, has over thirty years of experience in narration. She was named a ""Golden Voice"" by AudioFile magazine in 2019. She has won the American Foundation for the Blind's Scourby Award for Narrator of the Year, AudioFile magazine named her the 2009 Best Voice in Nonfiction & Culture, and she is the recipient of multiple Earphones Awards. She performs on and off Broadway and in regional theaters and has appeared on Law & Order and in various soap operas."

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