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.
William Dalrymple tells the story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company. The Anarchy is a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.