Modern India

A voyage to India nowadays is a continuous social event. The passengers compose a house party, being guests of the Steamship company for the time. The decks of the steamer are like broad verandas and are covered with comfortable chairs, in which the owners lounge about all day. Some of the more industrious women knit and embroider, and I saw one good mother with a basket full of mending, at which she was busily engaged at least three mornings. Others play cards upon folding tables or write letters with portfolios on their laps, and we had several artists who sketched the sky and sea, but ...

The narrative focuses on the imaginative and institutional structures that have successfully sustained and transformed India, first under British colonial rule and then, after 1947, as an independent country. Woven into the larger political narrative is an account of India's social and economic development and its rich cultural life. The final chapter charts the dramatic developments of the last 20 years, from 1990 through to the Congress electoral victory of 2009, and the rise of the Indian high-tech industry in a country still troubled by poverty and political unrest.

No era is more pertinent to understanding how present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh evolved than the nearly 200 years of British rule. This colonial period was a time of deep change and transformation - for India and for the world. These 24 engrossing lectures offer you new perspectives on the history of European imperialism, on world economic history, on the features of British colonialism, and on the rich cultures of the Indian subcontinent.

Master four thousand years of epic world history, ancient civilizations, and modern democracy in one immersive listen. Perfect for your daily commute or focused studying, this fast-paced narrative trades dry timelines for the vibrant, shifting currents of human survival and cultural evolution...

Uncover three millennia of brutal warfare and brilliant military strategy that forged the Indian subcontinent's destiny. From ancient chariot clashes to modern high-altitude nuclear standoffs, experience the visceral reality of combat through the eyes of front-line soldiers and cunning...

Shortlisted for The British in India Book Prize 2025 'A spellbinding account of the first forgotten half of the English encounter with India with a fascinating history of the Mughal Empire' JOSEPHINE QUINN, author of How the World Made the West 'Compelling, highly readable' NANDINI DAS, author...

Uncover the epic history of ancient empires and vibrant coastal trade that forged modern South India's cultural identity. Whether you are preparing for a journey abroad or seeking an immersive escape during your daily commute, this evocative narrative transports you through thousands of years of...

The History of Australia: From Indigenous Origins to a Modern Nation Australia is called the “land down under,” but how much do you really know about its past? Did you know that modern Australia started as a British prison colony? Or that for tens of thousands of years before that, Indigenous peoples lived there, building rich cultures and traditions? This book takes you through Australia’s history, from its first inhabitants to the arrival of European settlers to its fight for independence to its current role in world events. Learn about the convicts who built early settlements, the ...

Embark on an enlightening journey and explore the resilient spirit and profound legacy of the Sikhs. Through engaging storytelling and detailed analysis, this work offers a comprehensive look into the remarkable history of Sikhism, from its origins in the fertile lands of India to its spread across the globe.

The English East India Company was the mother of the modern multinational. Its trading empire encircled the globe, importing Asian luxuries such as spices, textiles, and teas. But it also conquered much of India with its private army and broke open China's markets with opium. The Company's practices shocked its contemporaries and still reverberate today.

A bold and sweeping history of modern South Asia, told through the five partitions that reshaped it. As recently as 1928, a vast swath of Asia stretching from the Red Sea to the borders of Thailand was bound together under a single imperial banner, an entity known officially as the “Indian...

Do you believe that fear only haunts the distant bhoot bangla, crumbling fort or empty village streets? Surely, it can’t touch you now. You’ve distanced yourself from the darkness by living in the glare of city lights, hiding inside secure houses, comforted by a regular job. But what if fear has accompanied you into the modern world? What if it lives inside you, eating away at your heart and mind? After all, fear is just a ticking time bomb that explodes when you least expect it, leaving your reality...twisted.

Ramachandra Guha takes us from Gandhi's birth in 1869 through his upbringing in Gujarat, his two years as a student in London, and his two decades as a lawyer and community organizer in South Africa. Guha has uncovered myriad previously untapped documents, including private papers of Gandhi's contemporaries. Using this wealth of material in an exuberant, brilliantly nuanced and detailed narrative, Guha describes the social, political, and personal worlds inside of which Gandhi began the journey that would earn him the honorific Mahatma: "Great Soul".

A steam-powered elephant. A journey through untamed India. A mission of vengeance that could destroy everything. Ten years after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Colonel Edward Munro still burns with a single obsession: finding Nana Sahib, the rebel leader whose forces massacred his wife at Cawnpore. When his friend Banks, a brilliant Scottish engineer, invites him on an extraordinary expedition through northern India, Munro seizes the chance to continue his hunt. Their vehicle is unlike anything the world has seen—a massive mechanical elephant named Behemoth, powered by steam and pulling ...

Sharing borders with six countries and spanning a geography that extends from Pakistan to Myanmar, India is the world's largest democracy and second most populous country. It is also the site of the world's biggest crisis of statelessness, as it strips citizenship from hundreds of thousands of its people - especially those living in disputed border regions. 

India is a land of mystery, richness, and deep spiritual discovery. Every facet of this ancient land seems scented with the famous spices that lured European traders to its shores more than five centuries ago. Here, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, and Buddhists live shoulder to shoulder in a crowded world of multiple gods and juxtaposed pilgrimage routes, each one perfectly peaceful in their own beliefs and traditions.

Kwasi Kwarteng is the child of parents whose lives were shaped as subjects of the British Empire, first in their native Ghana, then as British immigrants. He brings a unique perspective and impeccable academic credentials to a narrative history of the British Empire, one that avoids sweeping judgmental condemnation and instead sees the Empire for what it was: a series of local fiefdoms administered in varying degrees of competence or brutality by a cast of characters as outsized and eccentric as anything conjured by Gilbert and Sullivan.

'The Groundbreaker' is the riveting account of Kanwal Rekhi, who defined a generation of Indian entrepreneurs that changed the world. Rekhi's singular journey mirrors the rise of modern India, offering a deeply personal account of US-India relations, both past and present. Dubbed the "Godfather of the Silicon Valley's Indian Mafia," by Fortune Magazine, Rekhi rubbed shoulders with luminaries named Gates, Jobs, and Ellison on his meteoric ascent through the tech industry.

From the award-winning author of Girls Burn Brighter, a couple from India—so different from generations of white colonialists who came before them—move to Montana, only to discover the secrets the land holds in this stunning literary novel. Janavi and Sagar were never meant to end up...

Like one in six people in India, Sujatha Gidla was born an untouchable. While most untouchables are illiterate, her family was educated by Canadian missionaries in the 1930s, making it possible for Gidla to attend elite schools and move to America at the age of 26. It was only then that she saw how extraordinary - and yet how typical - her family history truly was.