Modern history is shaped by the wheels of capitalism, and this was never better exemplified than by the global reach and empire-expanding imperative of the the East India Company. But all companies and corporations have their origin stories, the missteps and false starts that shape them before they evolve into their final form. This is that story for the East India Company, starting way back with the Tudors and their relentless quest for more and more money and commerce. After struggling for years, the EIC eventually emerges into what history has told us, but the journey of how they got there is fascinating.

This work explores the rise of the East India Company from its origins with the Tudors to its heated rivalry with the Dutch. It examines how the Company compared to others of similar kind, the ways it excelled and failed, and how it led to future British colonization even though that wasn’t one of its original goals. It was also an interesting look at how advances in navigation led to an explosion of European nationalism. The author challenges some preconceived notions with this work surrounding the EIC. The author proves that the EICs goals did not include colonization, and that it was not destined to succeed from the beginning. In fact, there was very little planning and preparedness in the early days of the EIC despite it becoming a powerhouse in later decades.

Chapter One was a good broad stroke of how the book was going to be set up, and from there, each chapter went into detail surrounding the rise and difficulties the company faced. The amount of detail in this work is massive. An example includes following one ship from its initial contract to its voyages and all the issues and planning that happened in between. And this work covers so many topics that influenced the EIC, such as religion, medicine, philosophy, nationalism, politics, and even Shakespeare. Because of the wide breadth of discussion in this book, at times it felt a little convoluted and was easy to lose track of the main thread of discussion. This wasn’t the most approachable work of history I’ve read but it was quite informative.

Probably what I found most interesting in this work was the exploration and comparison of different countries. There were many instances where certain approaches of the EIC were compared to those of Spain, the Portuguese, and the Dutch. I also enjoyed the details included about how the EIC tried to approach all countries with the same tactics, and how poorly this worked when they tried to set up shop in Japan – this was probably the most interesting section of the work for me. I also enjoyed the author’s writing style and the dry humor that was prevalent throughout the book.

I was disappointed by the lack of discussion surrounding women and race in this book. I’m sure this was partly since the EIC was largely made up of white males, but there were two instances when the author mentioned that women played a much larger role than traditionally thought in the EIC. However, that was the extent of the exploration of that topic. And there was no discussion of race, which led me to assume that the only members or people in Europe who influenced the EIC were white, but as it was never explicitly stated or explored, I’m not sure about that.

This work is quite dense and a little convoluted, but it is still digestible. I recommend it if you enjoy getting into the nitty gritty details of endeavors such as this or are interested in the birth of this company and this time of exploration for Europe. My thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

You can’t talk about international trading in tutor Time to without mentioning the east India company it was all born from a few pioneers who had a plan and turned it into an international business. They had few rivals the biggest Bing the Portuguese empire but for over 100 years they stood strong bringing items from farway into port. Like every company they had ups and downs ins and outs but through it all it made men rich and a few captains famous. They had problems with both sinking, pirates taking over but some ships made it into port and made the owners rich. The east India company can be accused of doing a lot of things first and I thought this book a book I found so interesting and although I had to separate listening into three different parts due to all the names dates ET see I still was so excited to get to listen to it and highly recommend it. I wish it would’ve been more in story form as opposed to the academic text it was but still enjoyed it anyway. I thought the narrator did a great job and had the perfect voice for this book he set a tone that fit perfectly with the subject. I highly recommend this book I received it from NetGalley and Tantorere audio but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Lots of info
Great narration
I faded out a little, would've retained more in physical form, personally, but that's on me
Good time overall

*A big thank-you to David Howarth, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for a free audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
I have been interested in one of the most famous enterprises ever created and was delighted to have been offered the audiobook. It is lengthy and I imagine most comprehensive coverage of the first a hundred years of the Company that shaped the world trade and brought riches to England and not only.
This audiobook deserves definitely at least two or three listenings owing to the amount of detail, impossible to be digested just at one go. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the men who dared and had a vision, even if backed by financial rewards, I felt like an adventurer myself.