It would be economical with the truth
to say that this is a short book or an easy one, but putting the work in pays
off handsomely. It is the true story of the rise of the East India Company, but
is also nothing short of the painful truth about economics.
For it looks at the
ways a small, predatory organisation grew and grew until it commanded armies,
directed princes and lorded it over some of the finest lands and cultured
peoples of the world.
Dalrymple bravely tells a tale of colonialism and
imperialism by boardroom and management, and for profit rather than glory, and
it should serve as a warning to heed those bearing gifts whilst brandishing
ledgers and account books.
THE TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2019 A FINANCIAL TIMES, OBSERVER, DAILY TELEGRAPH, WALL STREET JOURNAL AND TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Dalrymple is a superb historian with a visceral understanding of India ... A book of beauty' - Gerard DeGroot, The Times
In August 1765 the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and forced him to establish in his richest provinces a new administration run by English merchants who collected taxes through means of a ruthless private army - what we…
I
have been dreaming of Egypt recently (an inevitable consequence of five years of working
away on my own book on Napoleonin Egypt). The monuments, the glories, the lone
and level sands which stretch far away. And the Nile, giver of life, benefactor
of bounty.
It would never have occurred to me to tell Egypt’s story by following
the course of that great waterway as it rises, flows through Cairo, and on to
meet the Mediterranean.
But this was Robert Twigger’s way, and his book is one
of the finest on Egypt and why the Nile is so central to the country and to the
civilizations whose ebb and flow mark the passage of Egyptian time.
A rip-roaring yet intimate biography of the mighty Nile by Robert Twigger, award-winning author of ANGRY WHITE PYJAMAS. 'A tour de force' FINANCIAL TIMES.
So much begins on the banks of the Nile: all religion, all life, all stories, the script we write in, the language we speak, the gods, the legends and the names of stars. This mighty river that flows through a quarter of all Africa has been history's most sustained creator.
In this dazzling, idiosyncratic journey from ancient times to the Arab Spring, award-winning author Robert Twigger weaves a Nile narrative like no other. As he navigates…
It is only by chance and habit
that we label the First World War the First World War, but that title
more properly belongs to (fans of the Seven Years’ War look away now) the
Napoleonic Wars.
Mikaberidze, a thoroughly global character as he is a Georgian
specialist in Russian history living in the USA, tries his hand at charting how the wars against Napoleon spilled out well beyond Europe, with
sprawling battles on land and sea, new alliances, unexpected rebellions and numerous
examples of that age-old trick of grabbing lands.
At the same time, your enemy has his
hands full. It is packed with odd and quirky facts but nevertheless remains an
important and solid contribution to scholarship.
Austerlitz, Wagram, Borodino, Trafalgar, Leipzig, Waterloo: these are the places most closely associated with the Napoleonic Wars. But how did this period of nearly continuous warfare affect the world beyond Europe? The immensity of the fighting waged by France against England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and the immediate consequences of the tremors that spread from France as a result, overshadow the profound repercussions that the Napoleonic Wars had throughout the world.
In this far-ranging work, Alexander Mikaberidze argues that the Napoleonic Wars can only be fully understood with an international context in mind. France struggled for dominance not only on…
In July 1798, Napoleon invaded Egypt, landing an army in the stifling heat of a North African summer. His invasion came as a shock to the Egyptians but also as a surprise to the soldiers onboard his armada, for they had not been briefed on a mission designed to win glory for their general and, or so it appeared, untold riches for their government.
For these soldiers who followed in Napoleon's wake, the campaign that followed promised neither fame nor wealth. What it did offer was forced marches, endless battles against fearsome warriors, and the occupation of land that mesmerized and repelled them in equal measure.
Thousands of Frenchmen were to die in battle and as many again from disease - including the plague.
