A groundbreaking view of South Asian history in the twentieth century that underlines the similarities and intertwined cultures of India and Pakistan
“[A] definitive new 20th-century thematic history of the Indian subcontinent that rejects hegemonic conceptions of national ‘difference.’”—Financial Times
This radically original and ambitious history of the Indian subcontinent explores the region’s unique twentieth-century history and foregrounds the deep connections, rather than the well-publicized fissures, between the cultures of India and Pakistan.
Taking the partitions of British India rather than the two world wars as the century’s inflection points, Joya Chatterji examines how issues of nationalism, internal and external migration, and technological innovation contributed to South Asia’s tumultuous twentieth century. Chatterji weaves together elements of her autobiography and family history; stories of such legendary figures as Tagore, Jinnah, Gandhi, and Nehru; and, in particular, the accounts of the many who were left behind and marginalized in relentless nation-building projects.
Chatterji examines the countries’ mirroring patterns in state building, social and cultural life, modes of leisure, consumption, and oppression, and offers a timely course correction to our understanding of the dynamics of South Asian history. It reframes the events of the twentieth century that are continuing to play out in the present day.
Joya Chatterji is a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge University, emeritus professor of South Asian history, and longtime director of the Centre for South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge. She was editor of Modern Asian Studies for a decade. She lives in Cambridge, UK.
“[A] definitive new 20th-century thematic history of the Indian subcontinent that rejects hegemonic conceptions of national ‘difference.’”—Financial Times
“The story of South Asia told with such verve, wit, and brilliance it catches comatose facts by the throat and shakes them alive. This book invents a genre: navigating effortlessly between the archives, conversations, memoir, newspapers, swooping out to make magisterial observations, zooming in to unearth nuggets of gossip. It is like riding a rollercoaster with a mesmerizing guide who can touch down on any part of South Asia that she chooses, before taking off again.”—Anuradha Roy, author of All The Lives We Never Lived
“This book is a symbol of the inexhaustible richness of the modern history of what are now India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, studied together by one of South Asia's very best historians. Chatterji weaves engaging vignettes of her own experiences into a masterful account anchored in a chronological narrative and illuminated by brilliantly chosen thematic focuses. A pleasure to read, this book will engage newcomers and old-timers alike.”—Barbara D. Metcalf, coauthor of A Concise History of Modern India
“An incredible achievement by an historian writing at her best and displaying narrative sweep and analytical depth.”—Rudrangshu Muhkerjee, Ashoka University
“A truly magnificent book, and a must-read for anyone interested in the region.”—Mihir Bose, author of The Nine Waves
“This is history at its best; an invitation to enter worlds within worlds in the company of a master storyteller.”—Simon Longstaff
“A charismatic, dazzling piece of work that has the feel of a future classic.”—Edward Anderson
“Magisterial, erudite, and intimate.”—Durba Ghosh, Cornell University
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