India: A History

(Paperback, Revised edition)

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The most authoritative and highly regarded single-volume history of India from ancient time to the modern day. Five millennia of the sub-continents social, economic, political and cultural history are interpreted by one of our finest writers on India and the Far East.
Indias history begins with a highly advanced urban civilisation in the Indus valley, regressing to a tribal and pastoral nomadism, and then evolving into a uniquely stratified society. The pattern of inward invasion plus outward migration was established early: from Alexander the Great via the march of Islam and the great Moghuls to the coming of the East India Company and the establishment of the British Raj.

Older, richer and more distinctive than almost any other, Indias culture furnishes all that the historian could wish for in the way of continuity and diversity. The peoples of the Indian subcontinent, while sharing a common history and culture, are not now, and never have been, a single unitary state; the book accommodates Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as other embryonic nation states like the Sikh Punjab, Muslim Kashmir and Assam.

In this brilliant new edition, John Keay continues the narrative of Indias history covering events from partition to the present day and examining the very different fortunes of the three successor states: Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Republic of India. Based on the latest research, this is an indispensible history of a country set to be a definitive influence on the future of world economics, politics and culture.

Reviews

A delightone of the best general studies of the subcontinent. Andrew Lycett, Sunday Times

Ambitious, colourful and fascinating. Lawrence James, The Times

It is hard to imagine anyone succeeding more gracefully in producing a balanced overview than John Keay has done in India: A Historya book that is as fluent and readable as it is up-to-date and impartial. Hardly a page passes without some fascinating nugget or surprising factone can only hope that John Keays India will be widely read, and its lessons taken to heart. Guardian

Certainly the most balanced and lucid historyhis passion for India shines through and illuminates every pageputs Keay in the front rank of Indian historiographers. Spectator

Author Bio

John Keay was formerly a special correspondent for the Economist, and a documentary-maker for the BBC. He is the author of several books on the Indian subcontinent, including the bestselling India: A History. He lives in Argyll, Scotland.