Empire and Information: Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India, 1780–1870 (Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society, Series Number 1) Hardcover – 30 Jan. 1997

In this fascinating and meticulously researched book, Bayly studies the means by which the colonial regime sought to understand and control Indian politics and culture. This book could thus be said to be concerned with understanding the synapses rather than the sinews of imperial power, although one of its many virtues is how Bayly shows the interaction of information-gathering and the more obvious functions of the colonial state beloved of historians.The overall arguement of the book is that the success of the British in extending and deepening control of the subcontinent during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries depended in no small measure upon developing complex intelligence systems to 'know' the country and its peoples. To this end, understanding and utilising indigenous forms and practices of knowledge was vital, yet carried the latent threat of over-reliance and hence possible subversion of colonial control. As the colonial state expanded its reach, it thus increasingly cut native informants and practices out of its intelligence networks (both intentionally and unintentionally) to obviate this threat, but in doing so cut itself off from valuable information sources that could possibly have given forewarning of the dissaffection that erupted in 1857. The new information regime of the post office, telegraph, press and railway also offered the emergent nationalist movement a weapon to be wielded against the imperial order in the longer term.The greatest virtues of Bayly's book is not the bare thesis (which is interesting but not, to this reviewer at least, very surprising) but the huge range of evidence and case studies he deploys to support it. Alongside chapters addressing the Nepalese wars and 1857 are fascinating interlinking studies of the clashes of indigenous and colonial science, the mechanics of the residency system, and the management of native religion. As a research student moving into Indian history from a primarily British historical background, I found this book not only gave me a valuable understanding of the topic alluded to in its title, but also offered a window into a wide range of aspects of politics and society in colonial India. It certainly should be read by any serious student of the subcontinent, and deserves even wider attention.