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Makers of Modern India
Modern India is the world's largest democracy, a sprawling, polyglot nation containing one-sixth of all humankind. The existence of such a complex and distinctive democratic regime qualifies as one of the world's bona fide political miracles. Furthermore, India's leading political thinkers have often served as its most influential political actors--think of Gandhi, whose c...more
Paperback, 560 pages
Published
March 31st 2011
by Belknap Press
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To make the Indian experience more central to global debates is one aim of this book. Another, and perhaps greater aim, is to make Indians more aware of the richness and relevance of their modern political tradition.
After such bold claims, I was disappointed to find that the book is in fact an anthology of Indian political writing. I strongly feel a commentary would have been better to meet the professed aims of the book and could have been made more impact-full with short relevant extracts
The...more
Historian, author and columnist Ramchandra Guha’s recently published book, Makers of Modern India is a sincere effort at profiling some of India’s most prolific thinkers and doers, whose ideas have had a defining influence in the shaping of our republic. The book – through speeches, articles and essays by these great personalities – tracks Indian’s political, social and cultural history over the last two centuries, giving the reader a comprehensive idea of how the country has come to evolve.
In...more
In...more
This is the author's next contribution to modern Indian history after his brilliant work titled 'India after Gandhi'. Here, Dr.Guha presents a selection of the contributions of nineteen eminent Indians who have shaped and made a defining impact on our country's outlook through their ideas, vision and expositions on the diverse subjects of caste, class, religion, nationalism, colonialism, democracy and secularism. The approach is somewhat different in this book because Dr. Guha simply introduces...more
Makers of Modern India was an eye opener for me as I had heard of these people but never had a chance to actually read what they wrote or spoke about. Out of the 19 the ones that stuck with me are M.K. Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, B.R. Ambedkar, E.V. Ramaswami, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jayaprakash Narayan, C. Rajagopalchari, Verrier Elwin and Hamid Dalwai. Reading excerpts of articles and books that these men have published makes me realise how the state of Indian politics has deteriorated over the yea...more
Makers of Modern India is a highly readable and informative book on the politics in India from the time of Rammohan Roy to the time of independence and beyond.
The author Ramachandra Guha says in the book that one of his aims was "to make Indians more aware of the richness and relevance of their modern political tradition". He really succeeds in that aim. It was fascinating to read about the thoughts and ideas of the makers of modern india. The ideas of these men and women have played and contin...more
The author Ramachandra Guha says in the book that one of his aims was "to make Indians more aware of the richness and relevance of their modern political tradition". He really succeeds in that aim. It was fascinating to read about the thoughts and ideas of the makers of modern india. The ideas of these men and women have played and contin...more
This book is a fantastic collection of writings from people who shaped the destiny of India in the modern world . It was fascinating to see people debating and discussing their view points to steer the nation . From a larger context the book also provides how the nation came this far , what was the discourses which dominated the brightest of this nation over the years .
Its like seeing the highlights of a football match we see the topics dominating this nation . From the days of early reformers...more
Its like seeing the highlights of a football match we see the topics dominating this nation . From the days of early reformers...more
A pretty good book if one wants to put the Indian history - from pre-independence to post-independence - into a large framework and have a big picture. It also gives a great sense of direction towards independence and beyond, including all that which the Indian thinker-political activists stood for in the society in their respective times.
When I read through the book, I found the writings of many a thinkers extremely thought-provoking. In fact, I was amazed at their ability to not only think th...more
When I read through the book, I found the writings of many a thinkers extremely thought-provoking. In fact, I was amazed at their ability to not only think th...more
Enlightening. The various individuals mentioned in the book are certainly the bigger pieces of the jigsaw that is Modern India, yet somehow the book seems incomplete because of a lack of an analysis by the author why these are considered so valuable as to be the special ones desrving mention in the book. His reproductions of extracts from books, speeches and letters is comendable yet that touch of Guha, which shows his insight into Indian history and understanding is missing which takes away som...more
A collection of writings/speeches/essays by leaders, with a small foreword for each leader by Ram Guha.
The collection is nice read to get inside the thoughts of our leaders
The collection is nice read to get inside the thoughts of our leaders
I learned quite a lot. Almost felt that the book was too short. Great introduction to some folks I didn't even know before. Quite a few more to read I guess.
Collection of a sampling of essays from some of the makers of modern India. I found the voices of Tagore, Nehru, Ambedkar and Rajagopalachari fascinating.
If one read its 1st chapter,eventually one becomes to know wt about it is
Amazing book. Must read for every individual. The writings of the Makers are really inspiring and educative. Great work by Guha.
Highly readable, this book gives us an insight into the thought processes of the men and women whose contribution to the making of modern India is immeasurable. I am especially in awe of Tarabai Shinde, of whom I had not heard before. Her pamphlet, "A comparison between women and men", reproduced in this book, will make you ponder the treatment of women in our country.
Ramachandra Guha is to be commended for introducing these great Indians to us.
Ramachandra Guha is to be commended for introducing these great Indians to us.
A great book to learn about the various social and political currents that assumed importance at some point of time or another, in modern India.
The personalities featured in the book were thinking politicians/activists of their times; the ones who have written extensively, besides being active in the social or political sphere. A brief introduction is provided for each of the personalities,followed by their letters and speeches.
The personalities featured in the book were thinking politicians/activists of their times; the ones who have written extensively, besides being active in the social or political sphere. A brief introduction is provided for each of the personalities,followed by their letters and speeches.
Kamala Kannan This book shows glimpse of 'out of box' thinking by our great leaders....Good mixture of leaders ranging from Rammohan roy to Tarabai Shinde and topics ranging from aboliyion of Sati to Protection of Tribal people.
Liked the part of book about Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. It inspired me to read his biography (written by Dhananjay Keer). Dr. Ambedkar is now my Hero.
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Ramachandra Guha was born in Dehradun in 1958, and educated in Delhi and Calcutta. He has taught at the University of Oslo, Stanford, and Yale, and at the Indian Institute of Science. He has been a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and also served as the Indo-American Community Chair Visiting Professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
After a peripatetic academic career, with...more
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After a peripatetic academic career, with...more
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