本書講述瞭東印度公司在印度的曆史。在作者看來，英國徵服印度，更準確的說法應該是東印度公司——一個以倫敦某個隻有五個窗戶的辦公室為總部的不受製約的私人公司，來實現的。1600年12月31日，英格蘭女王伊麗莎白一世授予該公司王傢特許狀，給予它在印度貿易的特權。實際上這個特許狀給予瞭它對東印度貿易的壟斷權。在100多年的時間裏，東印度公司就從一個商業貿易企業變成印度的實際主宰者，不僅從事貿易，還擁有軍隊，在將勢力擴張到整個南亞次大陸後更是對其進行殖民統治。然而，權力變大之後，它對英國的政治體製也進行瞭侵蝕，特彆是英國議會受其影響最大，其中一些正直的議員對其發起瞭挑戰和限製。而在印度，東印度公司的殘酷剝削以及對當地宗教信仰和社會文化的漠視，導緻於1857年爆發瞭席捲印度全境的兵變行動，東印度公司的土著部隊對該公司倒戈。1858年，它最終被解除行政權力。

本書是一部對商業力量與王權關係的研究之作。它審視瞭公司如何對政治，以及政治如何對公司施加影響。它也考察瞭權力和金錢如何滋生腐敗，以及商業和殖民化的方式為何以及如何總是步調一緻。西方帝國主義和企業資本主義總是一同誕生，且都是現代世界誕生之源。

William Dalrymple was born in Scotland and brought up on the shores of the Firth of Forth. He wrote the highly acclaimed bestseller In Xanadu when he was twenty-two. The book won the 1990 Yorkshire Post Best First Work Award and a Scottish Arts Council Spring Book Award; it was also shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize.

In 1989 Dalrymple moved to Delhi where he lived for six years researching his second book, City of Djinns, which won the 1994 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award. From the Holy Mountain, his acclaimed study of the demise of Christianity in its Middle Eastern homeland, was awarded the Scottish Arts Council Autumn Book Award for 1997; it was also shortlisted for the 1998 Thomas Cook Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize. A collection of his writings about India, The Age of Kali, won the French Prix D’Astrolabe in 2005.

White Mughals was published in 2003, the book won the Wolfson Prize for History 2003, the Scottish Book of the Year Prize, and was shortlisted for the PEN History Award, the Kiryama Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

William Dalrymple is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Asiatic Society, and is the founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival.

In 2002 he was awarded the Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his ‘outstanding contribution to travel literature’. He wrote and presented the television series Stones of the Raj and Indian Journeys, which won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series at BAFTA in 2002. His Radio 4 series on the history of British spirituality and mysticism, The Long Search, won the 2002 Sandford St Martin Prize for Religious Broadcasting and was described by the judges as ‘thrilling in its brilliance... near perfect radio’. In December 2005 his article on the madrasas of Pakistan was awarded the prize for Best Print Article of the Year at the 2005 FPA Media Awards. In June 2006 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of St Andrews “for his services to literature and international relations, to broadcasting and understanding”. In 2007, The Last Moghal won the prestigous Duff Cooper Prize for History and Biography. In November 2007, William received an Honourary Doctorate of Letters, honoris causa, from the University of Lucknow University “for his outstanding contribution in literature and history”, and in March 2008 won the James Todd Memorial Prize from the Maharana of Udaipur.

William is married to the artist Olivia Fraser, and they have three children. They now live on a farm outside Delhi.