![]() During this period, Delhi also suffered the predations of the Afghan Ahmad Shah Durrani, the loss of the Empire’s economic powerhouse of Bengal, the rise of competing power centers and innumerable political and personal humiliations. This is both the story of the rise of the East India Company, but also a history of the period dubbed “The Anarchy”, roughly between the 1739 sack of Delhi to the British installing themselves in the Mughal capital in 1803. The title and subtitle indicate two different, albeit interlocking, themes. Dalrymple lets the protagonists speak for themselves as much as possible, protagonists which thankfully, but not surprisingly given the author, include Indians as much as Europeans. The Anarchy doesn’t disappoint: readable, informative, full of color. ![]() A new book by William Dalrymple is always something of an event. ![]()
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