Empire and Information
By C.A. Bayly
1997
First Published
3.95
Average Rating
428
Number of Pages
In a penetrating account of the evolution of British intelligence gathering in India, C. A. Bayly shows how networks of Indian spies, runners and political secretaries were recruited by the British to secure information about their subjects. He also examines the social and intellectual origins of these informants, and considers how the colonial authorities interpreted and often misinterpreted the information they supplied. As Professor Bayly demonstrates, it was such misunderstandings which ultimately contributed to the failure of the British to anticipate the mutinies of 1857. He argues, however, that, even before this, India's complex systems of communication were challenging the political and intellectual dominance of the European rulers.
Avg Rating
3.95
Number of Ratings
55
5 STARS
33%
4 STARS
38%
3 STARS
22%
2 STARS
5%
1 STARS
2%
goodreads
Author
C.A. Bayly
Author · 11 books
Christopher Alan Bayly was a British historian specializing in British Imperial, Indian, and global history. A graduate of the University of Oxford, he was the Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at the University of Cambridge. He was knighted in 2007 for achievements as a historian.
