--- product_id: 1705811 title: "India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy" price: "€ 81.88" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/1705811-india-after-gandhi-the-history-of-the-worlds-largest-democracy store_origin: HR region: Croatia --- # India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy **Price:** € 81.88 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy - **How much does it cost?** € 81.88 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hr](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/1705811-india-after-gandhi-the-history-of-the-worlds-largest-democracy) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description From one of the subcontinent’s most important and controversial writers comes this definitive history of post-Partition India, published on the 60th anniversary of Independence Told in lucid and beautiful prose, the story of India’s wild ride toward and since Independence is a riveting one. Taking full advantage of the dramatic details of the protests and conflicts that helped shape the nation, politically, socially, and economically, Guha writes of the factors and processes that have kept the country together, and kept it democratic, defying the numerous prophets of doom. Moving between history and biography, this story provides fresh insights into the lives and public careers of those legendary and long-serving Prime Ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter, Indira Gandhi. Guha includes vivid sketches of the major “provincial” leaders, but also writes with feeling and sensitivity about lesser-known Indians—peasants, tribals, women, workers, and Untouchables. Massively researched and elegantly written, this is the work of a major scholar at the height of his powers, a brilliant and definitive history of what is possibly the most important, occasionally the most exasperating, and certainly the most interesting country in the world. Review: Magisterial overview of independent India's history - These are the kind of history books I most like to read: broad overviews of vast stretches of history, written in an accessible yet scholarly and well-researched manner. Guha points out in the intro that historians have traditionally focused more on the colonial period than on recent Indian history, as if that period was more interesting. He makes a good case for recent Indian history's importance and drama, telling a tale of religious upheaval, political turmoil, a few insurgencies, idealistic heroes, cynical scoundrels, social change, some horrible riots, economic growth, wars with Pakistan and China, and a few interesting figures with multiple sides to their personalities (namely, Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay). Although it's a huge, long book, Guha rarely conveys the impression that he's dwelling for too long on any particular topic. I did think he gives the Nehru era a little more coverage considering its duration, but considering that this is when the foundation of modern India was laid, it's justifiable. He also devotes two whole chapters to the Jayaprakash Narayan movement and the ensuing Emergency, but since this was a dramatic time when India's future as a democracy was imperiled, it's also understandable. He does a weird thing for the last volume and focuses on the last two decades thematically rather than chronologically; I'm not sure why. This has its ups and downs; although we can follow certain themes more clearly when they're not cluttered with other issues, it also sacrifices that 'timeline' feel that's so important to history books, and we sadly lose the political narrative. He never discusses the prime ministers during this period except in other contexts, for instance. I would've liked a little examination of A.B. Vajpayee. Finally, I appreciate the chapter about pop culture in the end. Pop culture is as important to defining a nation's character as anything else and has a great deal of impact on ordinary people, but historians, fixated on politics and society, usually overlook it. My complaints are minor. Guha is Indian, so unsurprisingly he is somewhat biased at times. His main thesis, which opens and ends the book, is that India doesn't get enough credit from foreigners for its triumphs. True, he makes a good argument, but you could also argue that it doesn't get enough criticism from locals considering its many, many problems. (When your main defence is essentially, "Hey, at least we haven't fallen apart"... you've got issues.) His coverage of the Indo-Pakistani conflict is (subtly) biased towards India. Pakistan is always shown in a negative light. Also, he is very nostalgic, and always full of praise for Nehru and his cohorts, against whom modern politicians are nothing but a bunch of scumbags. These complaints aside, this is still a fascinating, informative read, which covers pretty much all the bases and strikes the right scholarly-but-not-boring tone. I recommend it to anyone with any kind of interest in India. Review: Definitive masterpiece. - This is the book I had been waiting for most of my adult life, but never knew it had already come into existence a few years back. Somehow, all my life all I could remember about reading "Indian" history was the ancient glory that India was, the dynamic multicultural land it became during the middle times of the great Mughals, and the emaciated mess it became under the later British imperialism. True to what Guha mentions, "Indian" historical studies somehow stopped their narratives at the stroke of midnight of August 15, 1947. But, what happened thereafter from 1947 to the late 80s? Despite being an educated and enlightened citizen of my country, I was unaware, admittedly. Until I read this work of extraordinary scholarly persuasions. This books touches upon so many different aspects that the newly created state of "India" had to undergo and suffer. While the more well known north Indian and Bengal specific issues (namely, the ills of partition between India and Pakistan on Punjab, and the mess between East Pakistan and Bengal) are usually talked of in the context of the immediate aftermath of Independence and partition, numerous other (and dare I say equally important, if not more) issues like the ceding of north-eastern States into the Indian republic, the demands of people based on linguistic identities across the country, and the issue of independence of Kashmir, amongst many others, are brilliantly retold in Guha's magnificently succinct and clear style. Guha is unabashedly a Gandhian, a Marxist and a Nehruvian. This great book is no doubt influenced from that particular orientation. But, in all fairness, Guha has done a commendable job of being as objective as humanly possible. After all, all "history" is what the historian says. If you ever wished to know how the fleeting and fluid concept of "Bharat" metamorphosed into a coherent and distinct republic called "India", which incidentally at the time of independence consisted of roughly 530 distinct, independent and separate princely states, your journey stops here. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #825,708 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #16 in India History #19 in Political Reference #55 in Asian Politics | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 4,137 Reviews | ## Images ![India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51R-P+9es3L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Magisterial overview of independent India's history *by E***N on July 2, 2011* These are the kind of history books I most like to read: broad overviews of vast stretches of history, written in an accessible yet scholarly and well-researched manner. Guha points out in the intro that historians have traditionally focused more on the colonial period than on recent Indian history, as if that period was more interesting. He makes a good case for recent Indian history's importance and drama, telling a tale of religious upheaval, political turmoil, a few insurgencies, idealistic heroes, cynical scoundrels, social change, some horrible riots, economic growth, wars with Pakistan and China, and a few interesting figures with multiple sides to their personalities (namely, Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay). Although it's a huge, long book, Guha rarely conveys the impression that he's dwelling for too long on any particular topic. I did think he gives the Nehru era a little more coverage considering its duration, but considering that this is when the foundation of modern India was laid, it's justifiable. He also devotes two whole chapters to the Jayaprakash Narayan movement and the ensuing Emergency, but since this was a dramatic time when India's future as a democracy was imperiled, it's also understandable. He does a weird thing for the last volume and focuses on the last two decades thematically rather than chronologically; I'm not sure why. This has its ups and downs; although we can follow certain themes more clearly when they're not cluttered with other issues, it also sacrifices that 'timeline' feel that's so important to history books, and we sadly lose the political narrative. He never discusses the prime ministers during this period except in other contexts, for instance. I would've liked a little examination of A.B. Vajpayee. Finally, I appreciate the chapter about pop culture in the end. Pop culture is as important to defining a nation's character as anything else and has a great deal of impact on ordinary people, but historians, fixated on politics and society, usually overlook it. My complaints are minor. Guha is Indian, so unsurprisingly he is somewhat biased at times. His main thesis, which opens and ends the book, is that India doesn't get enough credit from foreigners for its triumphs. True, he makes a good argument, but you could also argue that it doesn't get enough criticism from locals considering its many, many problems. (When your main defence is essentially, "Hey, at least we haven't fallen apart"... you've got issues.) His coverage of the Indo-Pakistani conflict is (subtly) biased towards India. Pakistan is always shown in a negative light. Also, he is very nostalgic, and always full of praise for Nehru and his cohorts, against whom modern politicians are nothing but a bunch of scumbags. These complaints aside, this is still a fascinating, informative read, which covers pretty much all the bases and strikes the right scholarly-but-not-boring tone. I recommend it to anyone with any kind of interest in India. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Definitive masterpiece. *by A***R on September 20, 2012* This is the book I had been waiting for most of my adult life, but never knew it had already come into existence a few years back. Somehow, all my life all I could remember about reading "Indian" history was the ancient glory that India was, the dynamic multicultural land it became during the middle times of the great Mughals, and the emaciated mess it became under the later British imperialism. True to what Guha mentions, "Indian" historical studies somehow stopped their narratives at the stroke of midnight of August 15, 1947. But, what happened thereafter from 1947 to the late 80s? Despite being an educated and enlightened citizen of my country, I was unaware, admittedly. Until I read this work of extraordinary scholarly persuasions. This books touches upon so many different aspects that the newly created state of "India" had to undergo and suffer. While the more well known north Indian and Bengal specific issues (namely, the ills of partition between India and Pakistan on Punjab, and the mess between East Pakistan and Bengal) are usually talked of in the context of the immediate aftermath of Independence and partition, numerous other (and dare I say equally important, if not more) issues like the ceding of north-eastern States into the Indian republic, the demands of people based on linguistic identities across the country, and the issue of independence of Kashmir, amongst many others, are brilliantly retold in Guha's magnificently succinct and clear style. Guha is unabashedly a Gandhian, a Marxist and a Nehruvian. This great book is no doubt influenced from that particular orientation. But, in all fairness, Guha has done a commendable job of being as objective as humanly possible. After all, all "history" is what the historian says. If you ever wished to know how the fleeting and fluid concept of "Bharat" metamorphosed into a coherent and distinct republic called "India", which incidentally at the time of independence consisted of roughly 530 distinct, independent and separate princely states, your journey stops here. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Decent recent history of India *by C***R on October 19, 2014* This book is a good read. Author has done justice to India's fabric by not taking any sides - Hindu/ Muslim, Centre/ State, Hindi/ Tamil, Congress/ BJP, India/ Pakistan. His version of India's recent history reads like he could overcome his prejudice (or maybe he does not have many). He is written it very sensibly as if he were trying not to offend everyone. History is a tricky subject. Plenty of authors out there who write it colored. Ram has side-stepped that temptation. He uses detail and yet does not. It's a long book but a very easy read at the same time. I would especially recommend this book for Indians because we are taught something else in our classrooms. We need a balanced view more than anyone else because our State is trying to teach us a very badly coloured version of history and our Politico/ bureaucrats keep on tweaking our history every year. My history book (too socialist, bit honest) was nothing like my parents' (mostly British view of India's history) or my daughter's (too soft and yet Nationalist). It does not mean Ram's book is a bad read for non-Indians. Just that there are no snake charmers/ sadhus/ magic in this book. This book is not for virtual tourists or any kind of fanatics. Also not for businessmen looking for a reason to justify investment into or out of India. If someone were looking for one source of Indian history 1945 onwards, this is a great source. Lot's of great historians out there but hardly anyone has taken the trouble to put it in one volume. I think its a very good read for young Indians plus anyone else in the world who knows a little about India and wants to know more. Taking one star away just because Ram is too balanced. He refrains from plain-speak. I guess it's mostly because he is an Indian living in India and he has to deal with the consequences of what he writes. Maybe he did not want to anger too many people. Living amongst emotional people in a weak state does not help I guess. ## Frequently Bought Together - India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy - The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity - India: A History. 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