India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy Paperback – August 12, 2008

These are the kind of history books I most like to read: broad overviews of vast stretches of history, written in an accessible yet scholarly and well-researched manner. Guha points out in the intro that historians have traditionally focused more on the colonial period than on recent Indian history, as if that period was more interesting. He makes a good case for recent Indian history's importance and drama, telling a tale of religious upheaval, political turmoil, a few insurgencies, idealistic heroes, cynical scoundrels, social change, some horrible riots, economic growth, wars with Pakistan and China, and a few interesting figures with multiple sides to their personalities (namely, Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay).Although it's a huge, long book, Guha rarely conveys the impression that he's dwelling for too long on any particular topic. I did think he gives the Nehru era a little more coverage considering its duration, but considering that this is when the foundation of modern India was laid, it's justifiable. He also devotes two whole chapters to the Jayaprakash Narayan movement and the ensuing Emergency, but since this was a dramatic time when India's future as a democracy was imperiled, it's also understandable. He does a weird thing for the last volume and focuses on the last two decades thematically rather than chronologically; I'm not sure why. This has its ups and downs; although we can follow certain themes more clearly when they're not cluttered with other issues, it also sacrifices that 'timeline' feel that's so important to history books, and we sadly lose the political narrative. He never discusses the prime ministers during this period except in other contexts, for instance. I would've liked a little examination of A.B. Vajpayee. Finally, I appreciate the chapter about pop culture in the end. Pop culture is as important to defining a nation's character as anything else and has a great deal of impact on ordinary people, but historians, fixated on politics and society, usually overlook it.My complaints are minor. Guha is Indian, so unsurprisingly he is somewhat biased at times. His main thesis, which opens and ends the book, is that India doesn't get enough credit from foreigners for its triumphs. True, he makes a good argument, but you could also argue that it doesn't get enough criticism from locals considering its many, many problems. (When your main defence is essentially, "Hey, at least we haven't fallen apart"... you've got issues.) His coverage of the Indo-Pakistani conflict is (subtly) biased towards India. Pakistan is always shown in a negative light. Also, he is very nostalgic, and always full of praise for Nehru and his cohorts, against whom modern politicians are nothing but a bunch of scumbags.These complaints aside, this is still a fascinating, informative read, which covers pretty much all the bases and strikes the right scholarly-but-not-boring tone. I recommend it to anyone with any kind of interest in India.

I love his work on "Gandhi before India" and this is his second installment but on Indian democracy (read - not on Gandhi, his forte).Guha attempts to answer very important questions on why democracy survives in India while there have been multiple coupes in Pakistan, tragic civil wars in Sri Lanka and unsuccesful attempts to keep democracy intact after independence in Nepal/Burma/African countries and some intresting discussions on social fault lines on US which dont exists in India (Hispanic vs White/others).Reading this book and others (e.g. Nehru: The Invention Of India - Shashi Tharoor) I am now able to appreciate the monumental task which lied ahead of triumvirate of Indian Independence struggle (read again .. no Gandhi here) of integrating ~545 princely states into one nation, setting up IAS/ICS to conduct first free and fair elections (1951) and finally writing a truly secular and inclusive Constitution for protecting lowest strata of indian society (ScheduleTribes/Castes) at that time. The arguments, discussions went in during that constituent assembly are also well documented in this book with good rationale.He has put good arguments to convince you that the triumvirate (- Nehru, Patel & Ambedkar) lived long enough after India's independence to finish the most important tasks while other countries it didnt happened so democracy perished.This books highlights the struggle a newly born nation had to go through to modernize not only in economic sense (5 year plan for agriculture/industry) but also bringing in revolutionary bills in parliaments (Hindu Marriage Act) to keep pushing society for equal rights for every citizen. Good data and references are present in this book which ends up making this book a bulky one but worth it.Book also goes into details on the usual hot buttons in political history - rise and fall of Indira Gandhi, all wars with neighbours (Pakistan/China), pogroms (1984, 2002), Kashmir problem, Babri Majid demolition, Mandal Commision and even economic liberation steps taken by politicians in 1990s. Perhaps most enjoyable parts of the book will be the commentary observed on most important politicians during that time because these action/reactions by most important people in power provides you a window into the thought process in their head which you otherwise never observe in noisy newpaper headlines :)This book actually tells you why a single language/culture/religion is not *the* only way a modern nation can survive ! The western concept of *mono* language/religion as the most essential ingredient for the survival of a nation theory is debunked successfully here.Indian democracy is a case study, and its thriving despite its flaws and this book will provide you with one :)