“Mukherjee, a painstaking scholar and himself an Indian known for his numerous serious studies of Indian society and anthropology, has written here a colorful and important work on the Company, whose rise and fall constituted a classic episode in the history of capitalism and British colonialism. His… book is distinguished from most on the subject by its richly documented focus on social forces, Indian and British, that shaped the Company’s rise — and by some vivid descriptions of the impact of the Company’s long rule on the lives of the people both in India and England.” — Publishers Weekly | more…