| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.4

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Asia

Randolf G. S. Cooper. The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India: The Struggle for Control of the South Asian Military Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2003. Pp. xvii, 437. $85.00.

This is a truly fascinating work. Focusing on an important theme in Indian military history, it is a welcome addition to historical literature on the rise of the Indian Empire. At a time when military history is unfashionable, despite a lamentable paucity of such work, Randolf G. S. Cooper presents a close, action packed narrative of each major battle, in riveting detail. Drawing heavily on a welter of first-person accounts by British officers that blend anecdotes, insights, and prejudices, he has painstakingly fitted together what was seen and heard—through the smoke and the thunder—when no one could fully comprehend what was happening, or clearly explain the final outcome. Cooper is at his very best when he is telling the story, fact by fact. In doing this, and in explaining distinctions in the intricacies of technical details about various kinds of arms and armaments—especially when describing flintlocks and matchlocks, artillery and other forms of ordinance and their use—he is superb. As a consequence, there is much in this book that makes for first-class reading.

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