Dalrymple is an outstandingly gifted travel writer and historian who excels himself in his latest work

Max Hastings, Sunday Times

Vivid . . . unmatched . . . revolutionary . . . humane . . . No previous book has delved so deeply into the history of Delhi in those days, nor painted such a vivid portrait of the late Mughal court

Sunday Telegraph

Brims with life, colour and complexity . . . outstanding . . . one of the best history books of the year

Evening Standard

Magnificent . . . shames the simplistic efforts of previous writers

Spectator

Indispensable reading on both India and the Empire

Daily Telegraph

A compulsively readable masterpiece

Brian Urquhart, The New York Review of Books