Customer Reviews

The East India Company: Trade and Conquest from 1600

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This book is deserving than more than just 5 stars.

As a historian myself, the biggest problem in expressing yourself is making "old" topics informative and interesting to modern generations. Antony Wild has succeeded beyond any scale of recognition in his book The East India Company: Trade and Conquest from 1600.

This book, which details the English East India Company's history will appeal to anyone with an interest in British, Indian, Asian, American, military, nautical, or commerical history-- it is that wide-ranging. This book is also a must-read for anyone interested or concerned over the so-called modern phenomenon of "globalization." After reading Wild's account, one can see that globalization has been around for nearly four hundred years, if not longer.

The English East India Company, acting under a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I, sought entry into the Spice Trade in Asia. Soon, however, it found itself involved with Indian piece trade and trade from the Middle East and Arabia. Its trade interests in India eventually led to de facto conquest and colonization on that subcontinent-- all with the tacit support of the crown. The company reached into China and even North America-- it was East India Company tea that got dumped into Boston Harbor during the Tea Party.

The company exported and imported goods, laid the foundations for three important Indian cities, fought land wars and naval battles with other European merchant powers or local natives, and brought a host of new products and new words into the consciousness of the English-speaking world.

India proved to be the company's lasting legacy, and not always a positive one. However Wild provides a well-balanced account that does not paint the company as either completely ethical traders or imperialistic devils. No matter one's opinion, India proved to the company's (and Britain's) largest asset and also the cause for the company's eventual dissolution.

The book is well-illustrated and is an easy but very informative read. I would rank this amongst the top 10 books I have read in the last 5 years.

A very readable combination of text and images. Not a scholarly text, but both specific and broad in scope, it hits the right note.

If there was ever a coffee table book for EIC historians, this would be it!

I already have several EIC history books but most of them are dry hardbacks. This one is a large sized full color book chock full of pictures and photos on every page. This book would be a very good introduction for newbies to the EIC or even younger readers.

So, in summary, an excellent starter book with lots of illustrations.

I purchased this book for research for a project I had to do and was blown away by the amount of pictures and great photography and material they had in it. Great anectdotes about one of the lost periods of our time, the East India Company.

Amazing book, would recommend to those who wish to know more about this great period in World History.

This lavishly illustrated volume gives an excellent view of the East India Company - the experiences of the British in India, the spices and goods of interest to the West, and the history of the company over the centuries.