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Gardner paints the history of the East India Company with a broad brush. Too broad. He dabbles in all aspects - military, administrative, governance, commercial, personalities - but never seems to complete anything. This leaves the reader with a sense of the sweeping history of the Raj, and the personalities and interests that drove it, mostly from the British side, but you are always left without a complete picture. The personality is incomplete, the understanding of the commercial enterprise is incomplete, the military history is little more that a comment about the commander and a note on the troop quality and a listing of battles. A good try, but sadly, incomplete.
