Historical books on India
Oct 15th, 2006, 01:33 PM
#2
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If you're interested in the history of the Mughals, read "The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors" by Ebrahim Eraly.
http://www.amazon.com/Mughal-Throne-.../dp/0753817586
It's over 550 pages long, but very well written. You'll get a lively history of all the Mughal emperors from Babur to Aurangazeb. I tend to skim/skip over some of the complicated battle scenes and I'm almost done with the book.
The author has also written 2 other books on India history which this Mughal book is part of the trilogy. I intend to check out the 1st book on earlier history of India. I haven't found a good book on early Indian history -- some were really dry and tedious and others (Time Life book) are shallow and sometimes inaccurate.
http://www.amazon.com/Mughal-Throne-.../dp/0753817586
It's over 550 pages long, but very well written. You'll get a lively history of all the Mughal emperors from Babur to Aurangazeb. I tend to skim/skip over some of the complicated battle scenes and I'm almost done with the book.
The author has also written 2 other books on India history which this Mughal book is part of the trilogy. I intend to check out the 1st book on earlier history of India. I haven't found a good book on early Indian history -- some were really dry and tedious and others (Time Life book) are shallow and sometimes inaccurate.
Oct 15th, 2006, 09:11 PM
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India of course has a history going back many millennia, so one book may not be able to adequately cover the entire history. If you want a history of the very early Hirrapo and the Mohendro periods, you may not find a lot outside of Indian bookstores, which are a fantastic source of books written in English and are worth a stop on any trip. Hotel bookshops are often good, although more expensive. If you are going to Delhi, I have listed some reccos at the bottom of this post for some good bookshops in the Khan market, if you ask them for reccos on comprehensive history books, they can most likely oblige, esp Bahri Sons which has been very helpful to me in the past.
Personally, for a history of the Harrapo and Mohendro periods, I would just pay a visit to the great National Museum in New Delhi and see the exhibits there. There is not a whole lot known about them anyway. A good guidebook like the Insight Guides will give you an overview of these early periods.
For a history of the British in India, try one or all of Jan Morris’ trilogy Pax Britannica. Heaven’s Command: An Imperial Progress, charts the progress of the empire from Queen Victoria’s accession in 1837 to its peak in 1897. Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire describes the empire at the time of Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. In the final part of the trilogy, Farewell the Trumpets: An Imperial Retreat, he describes the decline of empire in the twentieth century up to Churchill’s funeral in 1965. Also try The Spectacle of Empire (1982) and Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj.
For a sort of “historical fiction” try Salmon Rushie’s Midnight’s Children.
For a history of Hyderabad and its Nizams, try The White Mughals by William Dalrymple. This also gives an overview of the British in India.
For an overview of history and culture, try anything by V.S. Naipaul, especially good are his travel writings: India, A Wounded Civilization; and India: A Million Mutinies Now. A brilliant thinker and writer, he poses questions about Indian life and culture as well as the worlds major religions and their role in modern culture.
Anne Morrow, Maharajahs of India. This is from 1986 but you can find it in Indian book shops. It gives fascinating details about the lives of the fabulously wealthy maharajas of India, who lost all of their power in and much of their wealth in 1974.
I also just finished reading Curry : A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham which I thought was fantastic, part history book (India and world history), part cook book. You will never look at your food in quite the same way, I think. Ms. Collingham has also written a book on the British in India vis a vis the physical hardships they endured (called Imperial Bodies), I am trying to get a copy of that.
Then of course there are books on the history of religion in India, which is another subject; I don’t have any reccos but would love to hear what you may find.
Bookshops in Khan Market, New Delhi
Bahri Sons
Opposite Main Gate
Khan Market
Tel: 2469-4610
e-mail: [email protected]
Great coffee table books and large selection of fiction and non-fiction books.
Faqir Chand & Sons
15A Khan Market
2461-8810
e-mail: [email protected]
Good selection of paperbacks at Rs 350-350, very nice leather-bound at Rs 550, and they will bind books in leather for you as well, this takes a day or so.
Personally, for a history of the Harrapo and Mohendro periods, I would just pay a visit to the great National Museum in New Delhi and see the exhibits there. There is not a whole lot known about them anyway. A good guidebook like the Insight Guides will give you an overview of these early periods.
For a history of the British in India, try one or all of Jan Morris’ trilogy Pax Britannica. Heaven’s Command: An Imperial Progress, charts the progress of the empire from Queen Victoria’s accession in 1837 to its peak in 1897. Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire describes the empire at the time of Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. In the final part of the trilogy, Farewell the Trumpets: An Imperial Retreat, he describes the decline of empire in the twentieth century up to Churchill’s funeral in 1965. Also try The Spectacle of Empire (1982) and Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj.
For a sort of “historical fiction” try Salmon Rushie’s Midnight’s Children.
For a history of Hyderabad and its Nizams, try The White Mughals by William Dalrymple. This also gives an overview of the British in India.
For an overview of history and culture, try anything by V.S. Naipaul, especially good are his travel writings: India, A Wounded Civilization; and India: A Million Mutinies Now. A brilliant thinker and writer, he poses questions about Indian life and culture as well as the worlds major religions and their role in modern culture.
Anne Morrow, Maharajahs of India. This is from 1986 but you can find it in Indian book shops. It gives fascinating details about the lives of the fabulously wealthy maharajas of India, who lost all of their power in and much of their wealth in 1974.
I also just finished reading Curry : A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham which I thought was fantastic, part history book (India and world history), part cook book. You will never look at your food in quite the same way, I think. Ms. Collingham has also written a book on the British in India vis a vis the physical hardships they endured (called Imperial Bodies), I am trying to get a copy of that.
Then of course there are books on the history of religion in India, which is another subject; I don’t have any reccos but would love to hear what you may find.
Bookshops in Khan Market, New Delhi
Bahri Sons
Opposite Main Gate
Khan Market
Tel: 2469-4610
e-mail: [email protected]
Great coffee table books and large selection of fiction and non-fiction books.
Faqir Chand & Sons
15A Khan Market
2461-8810
e-mail: [email protected]
Good selection of paperbacks at Rs 350-350, very nice leather-bound at Rs 550, and they will bind books in leather for you as well, this takes a day or so.
Oct 16th, 2006, 05:16 AM
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I believe Penguin have published a series on Indian history - otherwise I would second V S Naipual - also "Freedom at Midnight" written by journalists rather than academic historians - but a great read and a good introduction.
Oct 18th, 2006, 09:16 AM
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My favourite on Indian history is John Keay's India A History. It was written with joy it seems and one can read it easily. There are some drawbacks, recent history was all but omitted, some points are controversial, but overall it is unbiased reading from knowledgeable person who deeply researched Indian history. He has other books too, I bought only one - The Honourable East India Company, it was good too. On other periods of Indian history it's better to delve in some particular books, like Raychaudhuri on Ancient India or Gascoigne on Moghuls etc.
Oct 18th, 2006, 11:17 AM
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I have been reading a lot about India this last month and I would highly reccommend "Temptations of the West" by Pankaj Mishra and "Being Indian" by Pavan K. Varma - both deal with contemporary India but look back to its ancient as well as more modern history. They are quite different in outlook and slant but complementary. I also read "The Lion and The Tiger" by Denis Judd about the British Raj but found it a bit superficial.
My favourite background book on India is still Naipaul's which others have mentioned though now it is a little dated.
I also just finished "Riot" by Sashi Tharoor which is a novel set against the background of the Ayodhya crisis in the 90's. Excellent!
Have bought but not read yet "From Midnight to the Millenium and beyond" by the same author which is non- fiction and I hope will be as good.
My favourite background book on India is still Naipaul's which others have mentioned though now it is a little dated.
I also just finished "Riot" by Sashi Tharoor which is a novel set against the background of the Ayodhya crisis in the 90's. Excellent!
Have bought but not read yet "From Midnight to the Millenium and beyond" by the same author which is non- fiction and I hope will be as good.
Oct 18th, 2006, 06:23 PM
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I just finished reading "Family Matters," by Rohinton Mistry, which I really enjoyed. It is not a history book but a novel about a Parsi family in Bombay which beautifully captures the generational changes in a middle class family.
