Having finally finished this massive book, I feel I know much more about India now. Some parts are a little boring, but mostly it is hugely interesting to witness the biggest democracy on earth unfold after 1949. One is left with the feeling that it is a true miracle that India is still relatively stable, has not sunk into civil war and chaos and is still a democracy, for all its problems. The book details the huge effort and labour it took to transform a colonized state (and a very large one!) More...

A very comprehensive history of modern India, and it's surprisingly interesting and gripping given that it is a historical record. A must read for any one who wants to know how modern India came to be, esp. for those of us who were not born when we were not the fast developing nation we are today. Some of the descriptions and narratives are very transcending. They make you fell nostalgic of an event even when you never were there in the first place. It makes you proud and sad and excited and ash More...

"If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.
— Terry Pratchett"

India is world's largest but least likely democracy. But how it still survives?

To me, Indian history always meant what happened till 1947 (year of Independence) or perhaps my knowledge expands one little year further till Gandhiji's death. I was kept in the d More...

"India is no longer a constitutional democracy but a populist one", this is one of the hard hitting ideas which this book puts forward. No doubt such a commentary has not been written about India after its independence. Detailed and lucid this book is a treat to all those who are interested in the "idea of India". You will never be bored with this book.
With all the surprises, the setbacks and, the pandemonium that is associated with Indian's freedom, we can surely say that democracy has not lost More...

An excellent, thorough history of modern India, post-independence.

The first half, covering the decades under PM Nehru and the drafting of the Indian Constitution, is really inspiring. Nehru was an idealist who believed in social change; he worked with B.R. Ambedkar, an Untouchable who was the primary draftsman of the constitution, to keep India as a secular state and to overturn the caste system. Nehru also worked to protect minority groups such as women and Muslims, to create an economic and so More...

A magisterial history of India post-independence by a leading scholar. Mr. Guha is the rare professional historian who can combine scrupulous research and sound methodology with fast-paced writing accessible to a general audience. India After Gandhi provides a definitive window into the social and political culture of India, the honorific legacy of Gandhian non-violence as well as the shameful scar of caste-based divisions and the recent rise of the Hindu right. In his narrative, Mr. Guha seeks More...

Historian Ramachandran Guha, the author of Environmentalism: A Global History (1999) and The Unquiet Woods (1989), among others, and a current resident of Bangalore, writes of what he knows. Weighing in at nearly 900 pages, India After Gandhi successfully clarifies the convoluted history and contradictions of the world's second most populous nation. That Guha leaves questions unanswered in a book of this scope, as one critic asserts, might be considered nit-picking. To be sure, the author does c

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Do you really think that history of India has not been documented post independence? This is the chief premise with which historian Ramachandra Guha documents history of India post 1947 to 2005. Highly recommended for the millennials (born between 1980s to 1995's). The author strives to provide an impartial analysis of Indian politics and economic policies and its impact on the people. Outlining political movements, key governmental policies, iconic figures and charismatic outcasts the gripping More...

A voluminous book that surprisingly is a great page turner. A book whose stated objective was to unravel the reason that holds India against all odds, gives a huge focus on the odds but does not succeed in unraveling the reason. Maybe there is no reason after all.
A scholarly but extremely interesting treatment of major crises that India has faced in its brief but alluring tryst with destiny. A casual reader has enough material to be enthralled, while the historian has enough ammunition if he get More...

Ramachandra Guha says in the prologue of “India after Gandhi” that in India, history seems to end in 1947. He quotes the educationist Krishna Kumar who says that ‘for Indian children, history itself comes to an end with Partition and Independence’. As a product of the Indian education system, I couldn’t agree more with both these men and it wasn’t until I read ‘India after Gandhi’ that the magnitude of history I carry with me by way of legacy dawned on me.

‘India after Gandhi’ is a journey of Ind More...

In his 900 page book, Ramachandra Guha attempts the enormous task to capture India’s fascinating 60 year history with various events told chronologically that is supplemented at times by a concise, evidenced and at times an exhaustive description.

Fortunately, Guha doesn’t extend the complexity of History to his prose which is simple and one that engages the reader. I do not know of any other book that recounts our political history with interesting snippets and anecdotes that our traditional te More...

Never has history been told in such colour and with such emotion. Rightly deserves to be called Guha's masterpiece.
A book that takes you through the fight of a young nation against the veritable elements threatening secularism, its dangerous but nevertheless great gamble with democracy, its idealist argument against the more realist one for alignment, its parenthood falling from that of great men of integrity to mortals with vanity, and the rise of populism on the price of constitutional democr More...

Fantastic book..Gives a perspective into the early days of Indian Independence and how it was shaped by the great men(Nehru, Patel, Shastri, Ambedkar, Moraji Desai and C Rajagopalchari). There is also a good coverage on what the foreign media thought about India and it's future. Feels proud to feel that we have managed to buck all the predictions and stayed true to the story of democracy barring a few skirmishes here and there. This book gives us an intuitive understanding as to how India runs a More...

"India After Gandhi" is a monumental effort by Ramachandra Guha, and he does justice to it, considering the fact that it is a single volume. It requires mammoth skill to present facts in an unbiased manner, of the largest democracy of the world. As Guha rightly says, our knowledge of the Indian history ends at independence mostly. Very few of our generation know the history of the nation after Independence. I hope this book is the first in many books to fill this void.
I am no scholar or intellec More...

India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha is the only historic non-fiction I have read to date and absolutely liked the writing. Hesitant initially thinking that an exposition of this magnitude would lead me to boredom, I was proven wrong by Guha's readable prose.
I have to admit that I have been completely oblivious of the different post-independent events and the contributions, roles of many great leaders in shaping India's democracy. In this aspect, this book has been a real eye-opener and at ti More...

Always wanted to read this magnum opus. The writing style is very simple and engaging - taking us through all the important events that form the very idea of India as it exists today. Many unsung heroes and happenings of the past which had vague notions in memory especially what is known via hearsay have been run through in a breezy manner.
When one looks at the space that comprises books on India today, it is baffling to note that none have considered the period since '47 till date. Late to have More...

For us Indians, the history usually end with the Independence Day i.e. Aug 15, '47 or more specifically when Mahatma Gandhi died on Oct 30, '48. But what about the events after that, that rocked us and shaped our destiny, of what and who we are today. The greatest experiment in democracy deserve an equal credit to share its story of ups and downs and what it has become as of today.

India After Gandhi is the book that bridges this gap by providing a first rate account of the various people that pa More...

Ramachandra Guha's mammoth work 'India After Gandhi' is one of the finest books on Indian history post independence that I have read so far.His academic prowress is clearly evident from the amount of cross references,quotes that litter the book throghout.Indian history is transformed into a riveting saga with larger than life characters and defining events.Written by a historian and academecian,the writting is far from the expected text book style drone.Instead it is spell binding and history ha More...

This book is not about fictional story, detective adventures or some high funda philosophy. It is about the history of India after Independence. As quoted by the author "For many of us the history will end on mid night of 15th August,1947". This books takes you through the labor pains of Indian state before independence,the early death of it's father Gandhi, The steps it took under it's guardian Nehru, the age of adolescence in 60's, the mid-life crisis in 90's and so on.

It tries to answer some More...

This is the book I had been waiting for most of my adult life, but never knew it had already come into existence a few years back. Somehow, all my life all I could remember about reading "Indian" history was the ancient glory that India was, the dynamic multicultural land it became during the middle times of the great Mughals, and the emaciated mess it became under the later British imperialism. True to what Guha mentions, "Indian" historical studies somehow stopped their narratives at the strok More...

No, you can't get too in-depth with a country now at 1 billion people, in a one-volume work, even at 700-plus pages. But for non-Indians who have a passing knowledge of the country's history, but not more than that, this is an excellent plunge into India's politics since Independence and Partition.

The complexities of India as a nation, the resultant complexities of Indian politics, language, caste, religion and other issues all gets good basic-level coverage by Guha.

That said, I would have liked More...

Just before a 3 week trip to India, I asked an acquaintance for the best book to read to help me gain perspective on this incredible country. India after Ghandi was his instantaneous recommendation. This is the perfect travelling companion for anyone who wishes to understand this great country. India has 1.2 billion people, 22 official languages, a mixture of religions including the second largest Muslim population making up 20% of its society and yet is one of the most successful secular democr More...

This is a superb book. In clear, measured prose, Indian polymath Ramachandra Guha (author of other excellent books on topics as diverse as cricket and environmentalism) outlines and explains the complicated political, economic, diplomatic, environmental, military and cultural factors which have transformed the India of 1947, newly independent and riven by Partition, into the India of today. The book is particularly strong on the ways in which democracy has taken root in India. It's long - my edi More...

India after Gandhi, for the first time offers an adequate explanation for the origins of many social problem faced in India today. It gives a picture of how we have deviated from the Midnight pledge of bringing freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India...; esp the person(s) , forces and situations responsible.
This should be required reading for anyone Indian how has read History books written by sycophant/fascist CBSE ,ICSE and other board authors.
If you ha More...

I have found that with any book that chronicles history and always maintains (in it's foreword or preface) that the author has attempted to refrain from making it exclusively an academic discussion, at some point or the other, it becomes so. Not with this book. I don't know if any superlative exists which would do justice, but were it to exist, it would apply here.

Every incident in the book, whether dealing with Sardar Patel's unification of the princely states, the declaration of Emergency or t More...

superb..if you were to read one book about post colonial India - this is it. (also because there are so few of contemporary history books on India). Beautifully written (has a pace of a good fiction book !), well researched, comprehensive and addresses what is unique about India - which as a concept was 'destined for failure' being 'too multicultural/ diverse' to succeed as a working democratic country - but somehow survived ! As unbiased a view as is possible of such recent trail of events..It More...

Ramachandra Guha has written a very informative, readable and interesting history of India from right after Gandhi's assassination up until a few years ago.
It gives a lot of insight into Indian politics, both within the nation and with its neighbours.

This is, literally, no light read. While I enjoyed reading it immensely, I wasn't able to carry the huge tome anywhere with me so it stayed at my bedside table for the past year where I dipped into it on and off. That's why it took me so long to fin More...

I took up this book because I am woefully uninformed about post-independence politics etc. And I must say, I got to know a great many things.

The book covers a wide range of topics and almost all important national events. Its style is fluid, easy to read and its views are balanced. The book might make you weep in frustration at the pig-headedness of our countrymen in some situations and you will be left wondering how on earth does india continue to function as a coherent democratic unit. But in More...

I borrowed this book when I visited my friend's place in India and read the first 400 pages. It was such an enjoyable read to someone who knows very little about the country like me. Think about it, India faced every sort of problems in state-building after its independence. These struggles for state-building are my favorite topic, and when it comes to it, India is full of amazing incidents and anecdotes. When I encounter a good book like this one, I always wish that social scientists would read More...

Marvelous work by Mr.Guha. It's a book which takes you back to the period when free India was in its infancy and what all did it see when it was growing up. You feel as if you were a part of that time. Interesting quotes, anecdotes, historical accounts, Western views all of it makes it a must read. The best part is the constant doubts raised about the sustenance of the Indian Democracy amid all the chaos and confusion, poverty and riots in the minds of elitist as well as populist.

This book give More...