The Chaos of Empire: The British Raj and the Conquest of India, Jon Wilson

Through the lives of administrators, soldiers, and subjects-both British and Indian-The Chaos of Empire traces Britains imperial rule from the East India Companys first transactions in the 1600s to Indian Independence in 1947. The Raj was the most public demonstration of a states ability to project power far from home, and its perceived success was used to justify interventions around the world in the years that followed. But the Rajs institutions-from law courts to railway lines-were designed to protect British power without benefiting the people they ruled. This self-serving and careless governance resulted in an impoverished people and a stifled society, not a glorious Indian empire.