RaveWashington Independent Review of BooksThe author is a marvelous storyteller. By quoting extensively from the company’s own voluminous records, private letters, and diaries, Persian-language sources, eyewitness accounts penned by an insightful local historian, and other reports, Dalrymple creates a \'You Are There\' environment for the reader that makes the book hard to put down. Dalrymple has a special gift for describing the main characters in the story as if he knew them personally; every major actor in the drama comes to life ... Dalrymple tells the story with empathy and feeling. He deeply sympathizes with the Mughal rulers who were helpless to prevent the dismembering of their empire ... what happened to prisoners was often worse than what happened to soldiers on the battlefield ... Dalrymple does not spare the reader.