A Concise History of Modern India

by Barbara D. Metcalf , Thomas R. Metcalf

• ISBN13: 9780521682251
• ISBN10: 0521682258
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In a second edition of their successful Concise History of Modern India, Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf explore India's modern history afresh and update the events of the last decade. These include the takeover of Congress from the seemingly entrenched Hindu nationalist party in 2004, India's huge advances in technology and the country's new role as a major player in world affairs. From the days of the Mughals, through the British Empire, and into Independence, the country has been transformed by its institutional structures. It is these institutions which have helped bring about the social, cultural and economic changes that have taken place over the last half century and paved the way for the modern success story. Despite these advances, poverty, social inequality and religious division still fester. In response to these dilemmas, the book grapples with questions of caste and religious identity, and the nature of the Indian nation.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vii
Preface to the second edition	xiii
Preface to the first edition	xv
Glossary	xxi
Chronology	xxvi
1 Sultans, Mughals, and pre-colonial Indian society	1	(28)
2 Mughal twilight: the emergence of regional states and the East India Company	29	(27)
3 The East India Company Raj, 1772– 1850	56	(36)
4 Revolt, the modern state, and colonized subjects, 1848-1885	92	(31)
5 Civil society, colonial constraints, 1885–1919	123	(44)
6 The crisis of the colonial order, 1919–1939	167	(36)
7 The 1940's: triumph and tragedy	203	(28)
8 Congress Raj: democracy and development, 1950-1989	231	(34)
9 Democratic India in the nineties: coalitions, class, community, consumers, and conflict	265	(31)
Epilogue: a new century begins	296	(9)
Biographical notes	305	(5)
Bibliographic essay	310	(12)
Index	322