A distillation of the historian's finest writings on modern Indian historical themes.For the past forty years or more, the most influential, respected, and popular scholar of modern Indian history has been Sumit Sarkar. When his first monograph, The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal 1903–1908, appeared in 1973 it soon became obvious that the book represented a paradigm shift within its genre. As Dipesh Chakrabarty put it when the work was republished in 2010: "V...

The political context in which the Historian of India finds himself today, says Sumit Sarkar, is dominated by the advance of the Hindu Right and globalised forms of capitalism. Simultaneously, the historians intellectual context is now dominated by the marginalisation of Marxism and a shift to cultural studies and postmodern critiques. In this scenario, how may a thinking historian practice the craft of history? The theme which unites these essays is Sumit Sarkar's consistent critique of t...

The subject of social reforms has routinely formed a part of Indian history texts. The word 'reforms' conjures up the names of a few great individuals: always Hindu, always upper-caste and educated, always from cities, and always--apart from one or two memorable exceptions--men. These are the icons around whom the story of social change is written. The editors of the present work argue the need to understand the history of social reforms from a much wider array of perspectives: for example...

This classic work of scholarship, first published in 1973, has long been out of print. It is reprinted now with a new preface by the author and critical essays by Neeladri Bhattacharya and Dipesh Chakrabarty.

Caste is the key category in contemporary Indian social thinking. Discussed and analysed by historians, sociologists, and political scientists, it has produced scholarly explorations and polemical controversies in equal measure. The historical literature on caste from colonial times to the present is vast.This anthology picks out some of the best essays on the subject in order to explore specific aspects of modern caste: how the issue of caste was understood in colonial times, how it was re-c...

The story of an unlikely decades-long friendship between Lady Nancy Astor and her spirited Yorkshire maidIn 1928, Rosina Harrison arrived at the illustrious household of the Astor family to take up her new position as personal maid to the infamously temperamental Lady Nancy Astor, who sat in Parliament, entertained royalty, and traveled the world. "She's not a lady as you would understand a lady" was the butler's ominous warning. But what no one expected was that t...

As has happened with many of historys greatest writers, Jane Austen (16 December 1775 18 July 1817) did not earn the credit she was due until well after her death. Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, has earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature over the last 150 years. Austens romantic fiction was an interesting genre that belied the fact her writing was laden with realism and a scathing critiqu...

Joseph Mary Plunkett (1887-1916) from Dublin was one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, the designer of the military plan and the youngest signatory of the Proclamation. A recognised poet, he was already dying of TB when, aged 28, he married Grace Gifford in Kilmainham Gaol, just hours before he was exectuted on May 4th, 1916.This timely biography, written in an entertaining, educational and assessible style and including the latest archival evidence, is an accurate and well-resear...

This Fight Is Our Fight: Elizabeth Warren's Passionate Call to Save America's Middle ClassIn This Fight Is Our Fight, #1 New York Times bestselling author and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren offers a candid, inspiring look at why our middle class is under siege and how we can win the battle to save it. Drawing on her own experiences growing up in Oklahoma at the ragged edge of the middle class, Warren shows how a government that once looked out for ...

A different Scotland is possible. Caledonian Dreaming: The Quest for a Different Scotland offers a penetrating and original way forward for Scotland beyond the current independence debate. It identifies the myths of modern Scotland, describes what they say and why they need to be seen as myths. Hassan argues that Scotland is already changing, as traditional institutions and power decline and new forces emerge. He outlines a prospectus for Scotland to become more democratic and to embrace r...

This is the complete history of Hawaii.It is the fast-moving narrative of an island nation whose settlement antedates the arrival of European pioneers by a thousand years, and whose destiny it was to become the fiftieth star in the flag of the United States of America. It tells how the Islanders have created a modern-day miracle through education, economic progress, and financial growth in the past 150 years.Olive Wyndette became fascinated by personal cont...

The passionate, uncompromising sequel to the blistering classic novel, Once Were Warriors'She always came the following day for a visit on this yearly remembering; in fact Polly Heke came several times a year and done for the last two, from when she herself hit the same age as Graced been when she, uh, when she like killed herself.' The searing power of Alan Duffs masterpiece Once Were Warriors rocked a nation and was acclaimed around the world. What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted? is the pa...