Makers of modern India

The men and women whose vital roles in making the modern India discussed in this book were not only important political activists, but they also wrote with persuasiveness, power and deliberation. Dr. Guha asserts in his illuminating introduction, talks about those times as ‘the most contentious times in the most interesting country in the world’. The makers inspired the countrymen with their ideas and writings.

They took us from the subcontinent’s first rendezvous with contemporaneousness in the nineteenth century, through the sequential stages of the freedom movement. This book emphasizes the little-known facets of important historical figures including Tagore and Nehru. It also talks about thinkers who have been unfairly forgotten, like Tarabai Shinde and Hamid Dalwai.

Although their perspectives were sometimes complementary, and sometimes contradictory, their ultimate goal was the same. The topics they discovered and studied include nationalism, religion, language, caste, gender, colonialism, democracy, secularism and the economy – all of which were momentous in improving the human condition in our country. Some of those issues are still persistent to this day not just in India, but elsewhere in the world as well. Makers of Modern India will certainly enhance the knowledge of its readers. Dr. Guha once again offers a riveting read based on his years of study and expertise in Indian history.

Ramachandra Guha's many books include a pioneering work of environmental history (The Unquiet Woods, 1989), an award-winning social history of sport (A Corner of a Foreign Field, 2002), and a widely acclaimed and bestselling work of contemporary history (India After Gandhi, 2007). The first volume of his landmark biography of Gandhi, Gandhi Before India, was published in 2013.

Guha's awards include the R.K. Narayan Prize, the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Ramnath Goenka Prize and the Fukuoka Prize. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in the humanities by Yale University.