A Concise History of India (Cambridge Concise Histories) [Paperback]

Barbara D. Metcalf (Author), Thomas R. Metcalf (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521639743 | ISBN-13: 978-0521639743 | Publication Date: December 3, 2001

In a challenging new history of modern India, the authors explore the imaginative and institutional structures that have changed and sustained the country. While previous histories have been composed as handmaids of British nationalism or as products of emerging nationalist identities, this book challenges the notion that a continuous meaning can be applied to social categories such as "caste," "Hindu," "Muslim," or even "India,". An initial chapter focuses on the period of Muslim dynasties that preceded colonial conquest, while the final chapter analyzes the dramatic recent events of the 1990s, including economic change, religious nationalism and India's emergence as a nuclear power. Illustrations and quotations from historical sources are integral to the narrative. Thomas R. Metcalf is Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley. His previous books inlcude An Imperial Vision (California, 1989) and Ideologies of the Raj (Cambridge, 1997). Barbara Metcalf is Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. She is the editor of Making Muslim Space in North America (University of California Press, 1996).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With an informative,scholarly text enhanced with illustrations and quotations....[this book] is recommended for academic reading lists and reference collections as well as the non-specialist general reader with an interest in understanding India's contemporary political and economic relationships with the community of nations..." Library Bookwatch

"Lucid comprehensive and up-to-date, this book will surely establish itself as essential reading for all undergraduate and graduate courses on South Asian history..." C.A. Bayly, Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History, University of Cambridge

Book Description

Two distinguished historians, Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf, come together to write a new and accessible account of modern India. The narrative, which charts the history of India from the Mughals, through the colonial encounter and independence, to the present day, challenges imperialist notions of an unchanging and monolithic India bounded by tradition and religious hierarchies. Instead the book reveals a complex society which is constantly transforming and reinventing itself in response to political and social challenges. The book is beautifully composed and richly illustrated. It will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand India, her turbulent past and her present uncertainties.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (December 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521639743
• ISBN-13: 978-0521639743
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing in its correction of bias, but indigestible, January 6, 2004

By 

Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Concise History of India (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Paperback)

Most of the concise histories of India commonly assigned to students, such as those by John Keay and by Kulke and Rothermund, have been accused of having to Eurocentric a bias. The Metcalfs, professors at the UCalifornia schools, remedy this slant in their new CONCISE HISTORY OF INDIA by stacking the deck against European colonialism. While this is welcome, it is not without cost. The greatest, perhaps, is that the Metcalfs often seem to great length to vilify some figures or parties while at pains elsewhere to vindicate others . While their biases are understandable (even ones with which I basically agree), this does not make for the most balanced or objective of histories.

More worrying is their utter dryness of tone: it would be hard to imagine anyone being introduced to India (presumably the book's target audience) finding this book anything other than a painful chore. key figures or concepts are introduced basically offhand, then circled back to discuss in greater length much later when you've forgotten who or what they were; very minor figures from the nation's history or culture are often brought forth to comment on the events, but the authors do not clarify whether these commentators are important or central or not. There are good maps, and a useful beginning glossary, but I would have to recommend John Keay's book (for all its European bias) as a much more readable introduction to India than this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a book for a neophyte, November 27, 2007

By 

M. Errico (L.I. NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Concise History of India (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Paperback)

Assumes a great deal of previous knowledge and is really not a primer on Indian history. Difficult to follow and make sense of.

18 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for academic reading lists, February 9, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Concise History of India (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Paperback)

A Concise History Of India is the collaborative work of Barbara Metcalf (Professor in the Department of History, University of California, Davis) and Thomas Metcalf (Professor of History and Sarah Kailath Professor of India Studies, University of California, Berkeley). Their work focuses on the fundamentally political theme of the imaginative and institutional structures that changed and sustained both the colonial and an independent India. A Concise History Of India documents both the social changes and the rich cultural life that arose from the political structure and evolving social categories and concepts such as "caste", "Hindu", "Muslim", and "India". Earlier chapters cover the period of the Muslim dynasties preceding colonial conquests, and concludes with the dramatic events of the 1990s including economic change, religious nationalism, and India's emergence as a nuclear power. With an informative, scholarly text enhanced with illustrations and quotations taken from historical sources, A Concise History Of India is recommended for academic reading lists and reference collections, as well as the non-specialist general reader with an interest in understanding India's contemporary political and economic relationships with the community of nations in general, and Pakistan in particular.