The Taj Mahal – Passion and Genius at the Heart of the Moghul Empire by Diana and Michael Preston
         
Constructed of a luminescent marble that makes the building shimmer and change color even on the most overcast days, the Taj Mahal is more than just a wonder or World Heritage Site.  It is a love story, a devotional shrine, an emblem of a mighty empire, and a masterpiece of design—all of which is beautifully chronicled in Diana and Michael Preston’s new history.

Built between 1631 and 1654 as a memorial to the beloved wife of Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal epitomized the splendor and power of the Moghul Empire at its height.  Over 20,000 laborers contributed to its completion including the greatest craftsmen, engineers, and artisans of the day.  Precious marble, jade, crystal, turquoise, and sapphire from all over Asia helped comprise its materials.  At the cost of 50 million rupees (half a billion dollars by today’s estimates), it remains India’s most popular destination attracting several million tourists each year.

In TAJ MAHAL Diana (winner of last year’s Los Angeles Times book award for Before the Fallout) and Michael Preston give a far richer portrait of the memorial, one that casts the building in the long shadow of the Moghul Empire that stretched beyond much of India to present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bengal.  The battles and the dynastic rivalries of Moghul history served as the foundation for the Taj Mahal.  Its completion marked the beginning of the empire’s demise.

Diana and Michael Preston are Oxford-trained historians who live in London, England. Diana is the author of A First Rate Tragedy, The Boxer Rebellion, Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy, and Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima, which won the 2006 Los Angeles Times Award for Science and Technology. She and Michael Preston coauthored A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, a biography of the great seventeenth-century adventurer, William Dampier.

TAJ MAHAL:
Passion and Genius at the Heart of the Moghul Empire
Diana and Michael Preston
Publication date: April 1, 2007
ISBN 0-8027-1511-7
$25.95 Hardcover • 6 1/8 x 9 ¼  • 336 pages

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