Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy

I enjoyed reading this book, it is a concise and easy reading. It makes few but strong points--political economy of colonialism, freedom movement and also describes, what is known as the 'People's history' of South Asia. More focus has been given to Bengal, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. I wish there was some on more stuff on Sindh, NWFP, Nepal and so on.A must read for those who are inteested in South Asia.

"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past" said George Orwell. Modern South Asia represents another attempt by Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal to wrest control of the past from those who control the present. Cutting right through the lies published in official history text books, Bose and Jalal make a clear, convincing and appealing argument: Partition was the result of misplaced assumptions and opportunism on the part of both Hindu and Muslim leadership. Classification of Muslims as a nation instead of a minority was initially only a tactic to ensure equal representation at the center. It is a great irony of history that it led to the disintegration of the same center. The book is generally well written although the poetry translations could be improved. It should, however, not be treated as a first introduction to the history of the region but as a commentary on partition which created the identities: indian and pakistani, and subsequent events which led to their objectification. A must-read.

This book is one of the best introductory books to the history of modern South Asia. Well written by two revisionist historians, it gives an impressive overview of the partition of India. Although it is detailed enough to understand the complexities of South Asian history, it lacks depth. Good bibliography.