Mathematics was integral to land control, revenue extraction, and productive activities in premodern India. With the transition to colonial rule, new demands were made of those who measured and…
The idea of a nation state based on ethnicity could easily change into a predatory state that flourishes by calling for the extinction of the ‘other’. Such an exclusivist state could turn upon itself…
An intense narrative of recent transformations in Jammu and Kashmir’s socio-political and economic landscape keeps the focus on the region’s hapless people.
“How did India reconcile the tensions between economic planning and liberal democracy? And how did this attempt shape the Indian republic’s formative years?”
It is a poor account of Vivekananda's life that is written without studying the Bengali writings on him, that downplays the Ramakrishna-Narendranath relationship and that pays only little…
‘India is Broken’ indicts all but a few from the political leadership for India’s economic failures. Does it fail to account for the challenges of building unity in a segmented society? Does it under…
For Savarkar, history was a critical tool in a war to protect the Hindu nation. A new book examines the relationship between history and politics in Savarkar's thought and braids together the…
When you retrace Gandhi’s steps to Dandi you get to understand what ‘vikas’ means and what it does not mean for Gujarat and for all of India today. A most unusual book about a most unusual journey.
A narrative history reminds us of the exceptional Westerners who, during the high noon of Empire, went against the tide to engage with India and fight for the country's freedom.
The first biography of George Fernandes sparkles in places where the author’s access to the socialist leader’s private papers pays off. But it falls short, with gaps in understanding and inadequate…
