Empire and Information: Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India, 1780-1870

About this book

In a penetrating account of the evolution of British intelligence gathering in India, C. A. Bayly shows how networks of Indian spies were recruited by the British to secure military, political and social information about their subjects. He also examines the social and intellectual origins of these native informants , and considers how the colonial authorities interpreted and often misinterpreted the information they supplied. It was such misunderstandings which ultimately contributed to the failure of the British to anticipate the rebellions of 1857. The author argues, however, that even before this, complex systems of debate and communication were challenging the political and intellectual dominance of the European rulers.

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• The Economic History of India: From the Accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 to the Commencement of the Twentieth Century by Romesh Chunder Dutt
• The Men Who Ruled India: The Founders by Philip Woodruff
• The English Utilitarians and India by Eric Stokes
• The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj by David Gilmour

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