The East India Company: A History

This book is a great overview of the East India Company to those who are looking for a good introduction to the subject. This book isn't aimed at hardcore academics, but more to students and the rest of us who watch the History Channel. Philip Lawson has taken an objective overview of his subject, which is important because it's easy to focus on the larger issue of colonialism. By reading this mini-epic you will get to trace the history of the company from it's start in the Elizabethan era until it's end in the mid-1800's. The book is packed with a cast of characters ranging from humble bookkeepers to greedy heads of state. There are some nice details about the history of tea and trading (example: I had no idea that it was the English who first put tea and sugar together around the 1680's). Now you may ask yourself why you should read this if you are an American? Well our own history starts off with the Boston tea party, which was raiding an East India Company ship. More important the books touches on the subject of monopolies, which will be of interest to anyone into modern economics. What's great about this book is that it also serves as a good introduction to other books on the subject, so if you are interested you will know where to start.

Philip Lawson is much missed. He died at age 46 with a promising career ahead and an impressive list of books and articles (most dealing with imperial topics) behind him. He was the most gifted of the younger generation of scholars who write imperial history not from the perspective of the metropole but from the periphery. This survey of the John Company constitutes the best introduction to the subject yet written.