Customer Reviews

India: The Definitive History

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bought this looking for an Indian equivalent of Jonathan Spence's The Search for Modern China and it met this high hurdle admirably. The book does a good job allocating its space and topics. The book's initial focus on geography provides good insight into the later political divisions of India. For a Western reader, Sardesai provides fascinating insights about his own culture. While there are definitely Hindu nationalist overtones, Sardesai also levels criticisms of both modern and pre-modern India without the ackward self-conciousness that would accompany a Western writer. My only complaint (hence the 4-stars) is that the book could use more maps & illustrations - a very limited provincial map at the beginning is the only graphic in the book. It can be somewhat frustrating to have places mentioned in the book (like Pune for example) without being able to place them on a map.

This definitive history is perfect for a traveller interested in the background to this marvellous complex society. It gives a no frills account of its history dating back almost to the year dot. The reviews I read in order to purchase this as a gift were spot on with their recommendations. My husband is enthralled by the depth of knowledge it offers. He has been travelling for business a lot and finds the people and culture fascinating. He now has an insight into their beliefs and cultural ways he always wanted. If you are looking for a book that is not for an academic outlook but just plain facts and questions answered, this is it!

The author has made a fair claim that modern India(European colonialism to present) has been far overstated in the history books. Unfortunately this is not a definitive history (no book on India could be "definitive" anyway....), nor that good an overview. There are some nightmarish ommissions-what about the Chola Empire?

And while I applaud Sardesai for giving background on certain topics before explaining their place in Indian history (Islam for instance), most of the narrative is written in a somewhat casual nonobjective manner. That's not a flaw, per se, but clarity is essential when it comes to this particular topic, imo.

To have written something definitive on any subject is a bold claim, more so for a historian and all the more so for writings on the history of India. And yet, except for a couple of places in the book where the author claims that there IS no evidence to support views that oppose his own, without acknowledging the limitations of any search for historical truths, this book's title seems justified. This book needs to be translated into as many languages as possible and all those interested in the history of a great and inclusive ancient civilization should read it. Much like Vinayak D. Savarkar's "Saha Soneri Pane" (Six Golden Pages), this is a book that every library must have.

An excellent review of Indian history in easy to follow chronology.

I especially liked the introduction to each chapter highlighting the

contents and creating an enticing base to initiate detailed reading.

There is more information in this book than half a library covering

Indian history. The material which is comprehensive, provides an

easy resource to review facts and features regarding India from the

ancient times to the march to freedom, democracy and economic

freedom. The rise and fall of various powers, the freedom and post

freedom India with sociopoliticeconomic triumphs and challenges are

succinctly depicted.

The path to economic freedom and the foreign policy made interesting

reading relevant to the current times.

A must read for anyone interested in India.

I used this book for a "cultures of India class" and found the chapters too packed with names, places and dates for a reader who is not a history buff but who is familiar with and interested in Indian history. The content and writing style remind me of an old high school text author; there is little theory and little deeper thought apparently given to how events are linked to a theme or form a coherent picture.

There also appears a Hindu bias particularly when discussing the Moghul period and the period prior to Independence. The chapters prior to and after independence are particularly comprised of names, dates, events without putting them into a larger political, colonial, cultural or social context.

For someone who is already familiar with Indian history the book is a nice resource and useful to have around. On the other hand this book is definitely not as the brazen subtitle suggests "a definitive history;" but mostly a pastiche of men and events as the makers of history.

Sardesai offers a comprehensive approach of the history of India, from a very Indiacentric point of view. It is comprehensive: the religious and psychological sides of this adventure are well developed. This makes the reading both very informative and entertaining.You won't find here a boring compilation of events!

Yet his one-sided approach calls for more research as does any one-sided perspective. He omits to mention a few things as for instance the fact that it is mainly Tilak, one of the major nationalist leader, who developed the controversial theory of the Aryan invasion, and not solely the British as he claims; and offers only his personal point of view when he presents the British in 19 and 20 centuries and the Muslims in 20th century as main actors of the division of Indian society, not making too clear the so deep division existing even today amongst Hindus because of the perennial caste system. The clarity he employs to describe the Colonial doings is not applied evenly to the inner mechanisms of Indian society. I guess this would be matter for another book.

Nevertheless I appreciate very much his work and highly recommend it. Also for the fact he is opinionated.