An energetic pageturner that marches from the counting house on to the battlefield, exploding patriotic myths along the way

Maya Jasanoff, Guardian

A tour de force *****

Anne de Courcy, Telegraph

Magnificent … The Anarchy explodes myths that have accreted around the history of the Company like barnacles on the hulls of its ships ... Dalrymple shines a forensic light on the knotty historical relationship between commercial and imperial power

John McAleer, Evening Standard

Dalrymple has been at the forefront of the new wave of popular history, consistently producing work that engages with a wider audience through writerly craft, an emphasis on characters and their agency, evocative description of place and time, and the inclusion of long-neglected perspectives … The book's real achievement is to take readers to an important and neglected period of British and south Asian history, and to make their trip their not just informative but colourful

Jason Burke, Observer

Gloriously opulent … India is a sumptuous place. Telling its story properly demands lush language, not to mention sensitivity towards the country's passionate complexity. Dalrymple is a superb historian with a visceral understanding of India … A book of beauty

Gerard DeGroot, The Times

It is well-trodden territory but Dalrymple ... brings to it erudition, deep insight and an entertaining style

Financial Times