'Based on extensive research in British and Indian archives, Callie Wilkinson's Empire of Influence adds vital new dimensions to our understanding of the development, under the East India Company's aegis, of concepts and practices of British paramount power on the subcontinent. Her analysis of how the balance of power within the subsidiary alliance system shifted decisively toward the British in the early nineteenth century recognises the agency and strategic nous of both Indian and Company agents, powerfully revealing the political and diplomatic processes by which both aspirations to rule and claims to legitimacy were contested, negotiated, won and lost. A must-read title for historians of the Company, the Uprising of 1857–58 and Crown rule in India.' Margot C. Finn, FBA FRHistS, Professor of Modern British History, University College London

'A valuable contribution to our understanding of British rule.' Tunku Varadarajan, Wall Street Journal

'Callie Wilkinson's elegant prose and forensic research help to expose layers of information and uncover new levels of detail about the Residency system.' John Mcaleer, H-Soz-Kult