The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple

“Loot”, William Dalrymple writes in his introduction to The Anarchy, is Hindustani slang for “plunder”, and one of the first Indian words to enter the English language. It’s an appropriate word to open this momentous history of what the noted historian calls “the first great multinational corporation, and the first to run amok”. Because loot is what the East India Company did to India for 250 years.

No man looted more of the subcontinent’s wealth for the company – or siphoned as much of it into his own pockets – than the company’s governor of Bengal, Robert Clive.

Powis Castle in Wales, which houses many of the treasures brought back from India by Clive and his son, Edward, “is simply awash with loot from India”, writes Dalrymple. “There are more Mughal artefacts stacked in this private house in the Welsh countryside than are on display in any one place in India – even the National Museum in Delhi.”

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