作者:
威廉·達爾林普 译者:
林玉菁 出版社: 馬可孛羅出版社 出版年: 2024-1-18 ISBN: 9786267356449 页数: 656 装帧: 平装 定价: NTD820 原作名: The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire 丛书:Historia歷史學堂
然而其中卻有這樣一間公司,在兩個世紀中,從早期的加勒比海海盜私掠船起家,演化成擁有私軍護衛的賺錢企業,甚至在一七六五年時將光耀偉大的蒙兀兒帝國納入武力羽翼下,最後成為公司的傀儡政權。倫敦總部只有五面窗戶大小辦公室的東印度公司,十八世紀中奪取大片印度土地。一間私人公司能變成帝國,仰仗的是無情貪婪暴力,英國國會與東印度公司逐漸共生的關係,以及十八世紀的印度大亂世機運。 在《大亂局》一書中,暢銷書作者威廉.達爾林普,以生花妙筆,演述一七○九年蒙兀兒帝國最後一位偉大皇帝奧倫則布去世後至一八○三年英國東印度公司征服蒙兀兒帝國首都德里之間,將近百年的南亞歷史大亂局中,英國東印度公司如何趁機在南亞崛起,成為帝國。《大亂局》同時訴說兩個故事:東印度公司的暴力崛起,以及鏡像般的蒙兀兒帝國殞落。這個故事也尚未結束,《大亂局》為達爾林普的「東印度公司四部曲」的第一部,接著是《白蒙兀兒人》(White Mughals)、《王者歸程》(the Return of the King)以及《最後的蒙兀爾人》(the Last Mughal)。(此四部曲皆將由馬可孛羅出版)
蘇格蘭人,在福斯灣(Firth of Forth)邊長大。二十二歲出版廣受好評的暢銷書《世外桃源》(In Xanadu)。《精靈之城》(City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi,中文版由馬可孛羅出版)榮獲庫克旅行文學獎(Thomas Cook Travel Book Award)以及《週日泰唔士報》年度英國青年作家獎。《末法時代》(The Age of Kali)贏得法國星盤獎(Prix d’Astrolabe),《白蒙兀兒人》(White Mughals)則獲2003年沃夫森史學獎(Wolfson Prize)和蘇格蘭年度圖書獎。《最後的蒙兀兒人》(The Last Mughal)入選山繆強森書獎(Samuel Johnson Prize),並榮獲庫伯紀念獎(Duff Coop...
蘇格蘭人,在福斯灣(Firth of Forth)邊長大。二十二歲出版廣受好評的暢銷書《世外桃源》(In Xanadu)。《精靈之城》(City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi,中文版由馬可孛羅出版)榮獲庫克旅行文學獎(Thomas Cook Travel Book Award)以及《週日泰唔士報》年度英國青年作家獎。《末法時代》(The Age of Kali)贏得法國星盤獎(Prix d’Astrolabe),《白蒙兀兒人》(White Mughals)則獲2003年沃夫森史學獎(Wolfson Prize)和蘇格蘭年度圖書獎。《最後的蒙兀兒人》(The Last Mughal)入選山繆強森書獎(Samuel Johnson Prize),並榮獲庫伯紀念獎(Duff Cooper Memorial Prize)。最新出版的《大亂局》一書獲美國前總統歐巴馬選為2019年十本最喜歡的書。
2018年獲英國人文社會科學院(British Academy)頒贈院長獎章。他目前同妻子和三個孩子住在德里市郊的農莊,為印度年度文學盛會齋普爾文學祭(Jaipur Literature Festival)創辦人與共同總監。
At that time England was a relatively impoverished, largely agricultural country, which had spent almost a century at war with itself over the most divisive subject of the time: religion. In the course of this, in what seemed to many of its wisest minds an act of wilful self-harm, the English had unilaterally cut themselves off from the most powerful institution in Europe, so turning themselves in the eyes of many Europeans into something of a pariah nation. As a result, isolated from their baffled neighbours, the English were forced to scour the globe for new markets and commercial openings further afield. This they did with a piratical enthusiasm. (查看原文)
In the absence of firm Mughal control, the East India Company also realised it could now enforce its will in a way that would have been impossible a generation earlier...
The Company’s emissary, Venetian adventurer Niccolao Manucci, who was now living as a doctor in Madras, replied that the EIC had transformed a sandy beach into a flourishing port; if Da’ud Khan was harsh and overtaxed them, the EIC would simply move its operations elsewhere. The losers would be the local weavers and merchants who earned his kingdom lakhs of pagodas each year through trade with the foreigners. The tactic worked: Da’ud Khan backed off. In this way the EIC prefigured by 300 years the response of many modern corporates when faced with the regulating and taxation demands of the nation state: treat us with ind... (查看原文)
还没人写过短评呢