Anarchy by William Dalrymple

 

 

The Anarchy by William Dalrymple is a sweeping historical account that chronicles how the East India Company transformed from a mercantile trading organization into one of the world’s most powerful—and ruthless—corporate empires.

Dalrymple tells the story beginning in August 1765, when the East India Company defeated the Mughal Emperor and forced him to establish a new administration in his richest provinces—run by English merchants who used a private army to collect taxes.

Over the next decades, he describes how this company shifted from trading in silks and spices to wielding military and political power, eventually controlling large parts of India.

Dalrymple uses previously untapped historical sources to portray the brutal and often violent expansion of the Company. He reveals how its private force grew to hundreds of thousands of men, rivaling national armies, and how its corporate interests dovetailed with colonial ambitions.

Beyond a conventional historical narrative, the book is a cautionary tale: it’s not just about conquest, but also about how a corporation unchecked by governmental constraints can become a colonial power in its own right.

The Anarchy has received critical acclaim: it was a Sunday Times bestseller, named one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2019, and was a finalist for the Cundill History Prize