'This book is a groundbreaking study of the rise of the British imperial security regime in the nineteenth century. James L. Hevia's mastery of rare military archives demystifies the trope of the Great Game and provides an extraordinarily detailed analysis of how the geopolitical boundaries of Asia were produced through a proliferation of route books, maps and statistics, and other ... Read moreapparati of imperial intelligence networks. His scrutiny of the imperial past makes the contemporary security-obsessed American empire supremely legible.' Lydia H. Liu, author of The Clash of Empires 'Clearly written, well researched, and persuasively argued, Hevia's latest book will engage a range of readers. Scholars of diplomatic history will find especially valuable Hevia's insights into the growth and development of military intelligence as the other major component of the developing European security regimes in Europe and in Asia. Historians of Asia will also gain much from his research, linking as it does south, central, and eastern Asia into the British imperial network of intelligence gathering and control.' H-Net Review '… an elegant, thoughtful and often provocative analysis of how security imperatives dictated the collection, analysis, and dissemination of military information … The Imperial Security State makes a persuasive and passionate argument for the centrality of military intelligence in not only developing strategies to intervene in Asia but more significantly in defining what Asia actually meant then and now. It is a very compelling account, lucidly presented, solidly researched and theoretically sophisticated.' Douglas M. Peers, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History Show Less