"Howarth tells some hair-raising tales from the maiden voyage of the Company ship Peppercorn. Packed with tales, as well as gruesome accounts of clashes between rival traders in the east."--Dan Jones, Times (UK) " Adventurers is essential reading."--Dan Jones, Times (UK) "[Adventurers] details the early years of what would become the world's biggest corporation.By no means a defence of the empire, this dizzying work makes its emergence all the more remarkable."--Daniel Brooks, Sunday Telegraph "The writer can glide from Jahangir's memoirs and Mughal miniatures to the gossipy asides of Spanish spies, the travel tales of Richard Hakluyt and Samuel Purchas, the letters and journals of Roe."--David Arnold, Times Literary Supplement "Howarth's study [is] quite different from its rivals, and overflowing with surprises."--William Dalrymple, The Spectator "The history of the East India Company is so often read backwards.

This wonderfully well-written book restores its early development to its true context--it is, like cold water in a desert, the picture for which we've gasped."--James Evans, author of Merchant Adventurers "Fascinating and authoritative. David Howarth weaves a rich and rewarding tapestry of the uncertain, often chaotic development of the company, moving with style from London to Southeast Asia, and amassing a colourful cast list of princes, merchants and politicians. Adventurers will become the standard book on the subject, and deservedly so."--Jerry Brotton, author of This Orient Isle "Howarth's keen eye for intrigue weaves together a tale of commercial competition and imperial ambition that carries us from the Tudor court to the coasts of Japan. Adventurers is a quick-paced romp through the chaotic early history of Britain's most infamous corporation."--Edmond Smith, author of Merchants "Pragmatic, ruthless, and chaotic in turn, the early English East India Company is revealed in all its baroque extravagances in this superb and necessary new history."--Nandini Das, author of Courting India.