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"Summary: "Between 1939 and 1945 India underwent irreversible change when Indians suddenly found themselves fighting in World War II, and the author paints a picture of battles abroad and life on the home front, arguing that the war is crucial to explaining why colonial rule ended in South Asia, "--NoveList."

"Empire in the Hills explores the multiple perspectives underlying the aesthetics and spatial politics of development and policy making in different mountain sites of Simla, Darjeeling, Ootacamund, and Mount Abu in India during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Multiple voices, sometimes intersecting, sometimes contesting emerge throughout, transforming the nature of imperial discourse. A large number of hill stations were developed by the British in the Indian colony. Different desires, aspirations, and visions coexisted, marked by mutual paradoxes and ambivalences. It becomes evident that the English settlers of the nineteenth century cannot be considered a monolithic category. Hill spaces were reinvented to familiarize the unfamiliar to the Occident. The colonial authorities collected and preserved information about the hill people under the garb of benevolent paternalism. This authoritative knowledge was used to recast the hill communities according to their usefulness to the colonial capitalist enterprise. This book argues that there is a clear contestation of such representations. While the colonizers attempted to negate the presence of the locals, the latter on their part negotiated for their roles in these transitional times. The study also explores the aspect of institutionalization of leisure in the hillscape. The urban experience in the four stations led to a reorganization of spaces which reflected the cultural ethos of Europe. the book examines the hitherto unexplored linkages between Empire, space, and culture in the specific context of the colonial hill stations in India."

"This book is an attempt to understand a city through its roads. It explores the origins and development of three important roads of Calcutta (now renamed as Kolkata) from the pre-British colonial era to the postcolonial period. Spanning a period of four centuries, these three roads, Bagbazar Street in the north, Theatre Road in the centre, and Rashbehari Avenue in the south, register the contours of urbanization and the changes in the socio-cultural profile of the residents. The author locates this history within a broader theoretical framework with the help of which one can analyse the role of roads in urbanization, which are determined and influenced by the various political, economic, and socio-cultural impulses. The narrative traces the rise of Calcutta from a fledgling town to a giant metropolis through the history of these roads, and approaches the present era, when these roads have reached a cul-de-sac where their further expansion is restricted by territorial limits and environmental constraints. But the roads are still needed to meet the gargantuan appetite of urbanization, which is leading to the expansion of present-day Kolkata beyond its north-eastern borders. Here, the development of commercial-cum-residential complexes in the area known as the New Town, is Kolkatas first step in its ambition to graduate from a metropolis to a megalopolis. The book ends with a discussion on the changing character of roads in this New Town in the era of globalization."

"Millions in India have long been obsessed with the vicissitudes of the Nehru-Gandhi familys fate. Inextricably linked to the ups and downs of their lives was the future of the nation itself. It was Jawaharlal Nehrus leadership that guided India onto the world stage as a modern nation. Despite the varied scholarship of Nehruvian studies, one important aspect, the experiences of the Nehrus in prison during the national movement, has received only scant consideration. This book addresses that omission by highlighting the significance of prison time in shaping the lives of the members of this illustrious family. For Motilal and Jawaharlal Nehru, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, and Krishna Hutheesing, among others, serving prison time was much more than just a marker of participation in the Independence movement. The grim walls of jail provided the place and time to the Nehrus to reflect on and give direction to the nationalist struggle. Such important literary works as Glimpses of World History and The Discovery of India, which remain timeless in their appeal, were crafted in gaol. In tracing the intellectual biography of the Nehru-Gandhi family, this book documents the ethos of an entire era during the colonial period."

"Taking a cue from the story of Trishanku-the mythological king who aspired to reach heaven while still alive-Deepak Kumar builds a compelling narrative on the state of contemporary India. Much like Trishanku, who only succeeded in being stuck in limbo between heaven and earth, India appears to be oscillating at the crossroads of modernity and tradition; development and corruption; and diversity and communalism. The Trishanku Nation presents a provocative account of a country marked by its contradictions and seamlessly combines everyday social history with academic insights. All through its civilizational progress India has defied simple categorizations. This suppleness has been its greatest strength and, to a large extent, also responsible for its myriad problems. This volume dwells on this predicament of post-Independence India. Based on memory, both historical and personal, it begins with the depiction of life in a mofussil town and moves on to examine closely issues of caste, religion, communalism, governance, corruption, education, science, culture, and so forth, as seen in the last five decades. Presented with rare verve and wit, and by using the lens of personal experiences, these rumblings help unfurl layers of life in the Indian subcontinent."