A Concise History of India
Published on 26. November 2001
Book
Hardback
346 pages
978-0-521-63027-6 (ISBN)
Description
Two distinguished historians, Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf, come together to write a new and accessible account of modern India. The narrative, which charts the history of India from the Mughals, through the colonial encounter and independence, to the present day, challenges imperialist notions of an unchanging and monolithic India bounded by tradition and religious hierarchies. Instead the book reveals a complex society which is constantly transforming and reinventing itself in response to political and social challenges. The book is beautifully composed and richly illustrated. It will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand India, her turbulent past and her present uncertainties.
Reviews / Votes
'Lucid, comprehensive and up-to-date, this book will surely establish itself as essential reading for all undergraduate and graduate courses on South Asian history.' C. A. Bayly, University of Cambridge 'The almost impossible task of writing a concise history of the subcontinent covering a period of four centuries is achieved by the Professors Metcalf ... This is a great introduction to the subject and the authors are to be congratulated on a most interesting book.' Open History '[the authors'] account of the early Islamic state and popular misconceptions about religious conversion is so persuasively written that these few introductory pages could serve as an excellent model for secular history writing and should be circulated widely.' The HinduMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
4 Maps; 52 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 223 mm
Width: 143 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
588 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-63027-6 (9780521630276)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Barbara D. Metcalf | Thomas R. Metcalf
A Concise History of Modern India
Book
09/2006
2nd Edition
Cambridge University Press
€65.61
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
Barbara D. Metcalf is Professor in the Department of History, University of California, Davis. Her publications include Islamic Revival in British India (1982) and, more recently, Making Muslim Space in North America and Europe (1996). Thomas R. Metcalf is Professor of History and Sarah Kailath Professor of India Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. His publications include Ideologies of the Raj (1994, 1997), and An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain's Raj (1989).
Content
1. Sultans, Mughals and Pre-Colonial Indian Society; 2. Mughal Twilight: the emergence of regional states and the East India Company; 3. The East India Company Raj, 1772-1850; 4. Revolt, the modern state and colonized subjects, 1848-1885; 5. Civil Society, Colonial Restraints, 1885-85; 6. The crisis of the colonial Order: Reform, disillusionment, division, 1919-39; 7. The 1940s: triumph and tragedy; 8. Congress Raj: democracy and development, 1950-89; 9. Democratic India in the nineties.