William Dalrymple

William Dalrymple is a Scottish travel writer and historian, whose work centres chiefly on the Indian subcontinent. His first book, 1990’s In Xanadu, was an account of his journey from Jerusalem to Mongolia, travelling in the footsteps of Marco Polo. Dalrymple followed this up in 1994 with a biography of Delhi, where he had been living for the past five years, called City of Djinns, before producing his most acclaimed piece of travel writing, From the Holy Mountain. Published in 1997, the book retraces the path taken by two sixth-century monks across the Byzantine empire and was to be Dalrymple’s last travelogue to date. Since 1999, he has concentrated on detailed histories of the Indian subcontinent and, in particular, the Mughal empire. White Mughals was published in 2003, with The Last Mughal following three years later. Dalrymple has also written books on the First Anglo-Afghan War and, with Anita Anand, the Koh-i-Noor diamond. His latest book is The Anarchy, a history of the East India Company.