India: A History. Revised and Updated - Softcover

Keay, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802145582 ISBN 13: 9780802145581

Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011

Synopsis

Fully revised with forty thousand new words that take the reader up to present-day India, John Keay's India: A History spans five millennia in a sweeping narrative that tells the story of the peoples of the subcontinent, from their ancient beginnings in the valley of the Indus to the events in the region today. In charting the evolution of the rich tapestry of cultures, religions, and peoples that comprise the modern nations of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, Keay weaves together insights from a variety of scholarly fields to create a rich historical narrative. Wide-ranging and authoritative, India: A History is a compelling epic portrait of one of the world's oldest and most richly diverse civilizations.

About this title

Review:

The history of what is now India stretches back thousands of years, further than that of nearly any other region on Earth. Yet, observes historian John Keay, most historical work on India concentrates on the period after the arrival of Europeans, with predictable biases, distortions and misapprehensions. One, for example, is the tendency to locate the source of social conflict in India's many religions--to which Keay retorts, "Historically, it was Europe, not India, which consistently made religion grounds for war".

Taking the longest possible view, Keay surveys what is both provable and invented in the historical record. His narrative begins in 3000 B.C. with the complex, and little understood, Harappan period, a time of state formation and the development of agriculture and trade networks. This period coincides with the arrival of Indo-European invaders, the so-called Aryans, whose name, of course, has been put to bad use at many points since. Keay traces the growth of subsequent states and kingdoms throughout antiquity and the medieval period, suggesting that the lack of unified government made the job of the European conquerors somewhat easier--but by no means inevitable. He continues to the modern day, his narrative ending with Indian-Pakistani conflicts in 1998.

Fluently told and well documented, Keay's narrative history is of much value to students and general readers with an interest in India's past and present. --Gregory McNamee

Review:

"Keay's panoramic vision and multidisciplinary approach serves the function of all great historical writing. It illuminates the present." --Thrity Umrigar, The Boston Globe

"A handsomely published book with over sixty wonderful relevant maps, charts, and tables, and a plethora of beautiful illustrations, many of them in color. . . . Keay deals well with India's long and intricate history. . . . Keay's treatment of early India is often sprinkled with his passionate eloquence, which is also evident in the rest of the book. . . . One of the best to be published in the field for some time and could be read to great advantage by students of Indian history and by those who enjoy history in general." --Bawa Satinder Singh, The Journal of Asian Studies

"A superb one-volume history of a land that defies reduction into simple narrative . . . Without peer among general studies, a history that is intelligent, incisive, and eminently readable." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Ambitious . . . [Keay] carefully uncovers India's prehistory--a great challenge given that the ancient Indians left no texts--and skillfully describes the evolving Indian concepts of kingship, statecraft, and military strategy." --Lucian W. Pye, Foreign Affairs

"A comprehensive account . . . A robust book." --Amit Roy, India Today

"It is hard to imagine anyone succeeding more gracefully in producing a balanced overview than John Keay has done. . . . One can only hope that Keay's India will be widely read, and its lessons taken to heart." --William Dalrymple, The Guardian (London)

"Sweeping from the ancient brick cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, built in the Indus Valley around 2000 b.c., to modern India's urban middle class armed with computers and cell phones, this erudite, panoramic history captures the flow of Indian civilization. . . . A banquet for connoisseurs and serious students of India." --Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0802145582
• ISBN 13: 9780802145581
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 640