Product Description

In a second edition of their successful Concise History of Modern India, Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf explore India's modern history afresh and update the events of the last decade. These include the takeover of Congress from the seemingly entrenched Hindu nationalist party in 2004, India's huge advances in technology and the country's new role as a major player in world affairs. From the days of the Mughals, through the British Empire, and into Independence, the country has been transformed by its institutional structures. It is these institutions which have helped bring about the social, cultural and economic changes that have taken place over the last half century and paved the way for the modern success story. Despite these advances, poverty, social inequality and religious division still fester. In response to these dilemmas, the book grapples with questions of caste and religious identity, and the nature of the Indian nation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #93365 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-09
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 372 pages

Review
'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, Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History, 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 Hindu

About the Author
Barbara Metcalf is Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her publications include Islamic Revival in British India (1982) and Islamic Contestations: Essays on Muslims in India and Pakistan (2004) .

Thomas Metcalf is Emeritus Professor of History and Emeritus Sarah Kailath Professor of India Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. His recent publications include Ideologies of the Raj (2004) and Forging the Raj: Essays on British India in the Heyday of Empire (2005).