Buy India: A History here, one of 750 Maine History books offered for sale at discount prices here in the history books section at R bookshop. There are currently 88565 history books in our history books section, and over 1,000,000 books listed in our book store. We greatly appreciate your patronage at R bookshop and look forward to offering you a large selection of great books at discount prices now and in the future. Thank you for shopping at R Bookshop!
|
You Are Here: Home > History Books > Maine History > Item 65
|
India: A History
|
by John Keay
Sales Rank: 103849
|
List Price: $19.95
$13.57
At Amazon
on 9-14-2008.
|
|
|
|
Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 608 pages
Published by: Grove Press May 10, 2001
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0802137970
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0802137975
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
Weighs: 2 pounds
Reader Reviews
India has five thousand years of history that we have enough evidence to write about. Any book that can simply be coherent and readable while covering so much ground is an achievement. John Keay's "India: A History" is more than that, though; it is superbly-written and powerfully narrated. Keay notes in the introduction that he has deliberately avoided focusing more on recent history than on ancient: "a history which reserves half its narrative for the 19th and 20th centuries may seem more relevant, but it can scarcely do justice to India's extraordinary antiquity." Naturally the availability of more historical sources does increase the attention paid to recent events, but still the Raj does not appear till nearly three quarters of the way through, and the 20th century and the real start of the struggle for independence is close to the end of the book. The result is a long, thoughtful and detailed telling of many of the dynasties and civilization that flourished in India -- though, as Keay also says in the introduction, only the highlights are mentioned, since "with perhaps twenty to forty dynasties co-existing within the subcontinent at any one time, it would be [. . .] sado-masochism [to include them all]". So even at this extra level of detail there has been substantial editing. And there could have been more; the book's only fault is that Keay mentions just too many of the endless dynastic dramas. The essence of a one-volume history is selective editing, and the book could have been shorter and a little less dry in places. However, the picture of India that emerges is deep, complex and fascinating, from the earliest Harappan archaeological relics through to the Gandhis. The Raj is of course particularly interesting: although technologically and industrially the British clearly surpassed them greatly at the time of the Raj, some of the diplomatic exchanges that Keay retails show the Indians as being more sophisticated, more civilized, and in many ways just smarter than the British. It was inevitable that the yoke would be thrown off; the only question was what India would be able to do with its independence. Keay's prose is also a great pleasure; he has a wonderfully dry sense of humour, and he conveys exciting events with panache but also with precision and clarity. Recommended.
Comment | |
(Report this)
Back To Top
|
India: A History
Available from Amazon
Price: $13.57
Updated on 9-14-2008.
|
NOTICE: All prices, availability, and specifications
are subject to verification by their respective retailers.
| We offer India: A History and other related Maine History Books here at Rbookshop.com. To view more books about Maine History please use the previous and next buttons near the top of this page.
|
|
Search for books at
