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India: A History (平装)
by John Keay
| Category:
Indian history, Asian studies, India, History |
| Market price: ¥ 218.00
MSL price:
¥ 198.00
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MSL rating:
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| MSL Pointer Review:
An encompassing, systematically laid out and an absorbing read, this book is probably the best single-volume Indian history. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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Gregory McNamee (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-22 00:00>
The history of what is now India stretches back thousands of years, further than that of nearly any other region on earth. Yet, observes historian John Keay, most historical work on India concentrates on the period after the arrival of Europeans, with predictable biases, distortions, and misapprehensions. One, for example, is the tendency to locate the source of social conflict in India's many religions - to which Keay retorts, "Historically, it was Europe, not India, which consistently made religion grounds for war."
Taking the longest possible view, Keay surveys what is both provable and invented in the historical record. His narrative begins in 3000 B.C., with the complex, and little-understood, Harappan period, a time of state formation and the development of agriculture and trade networks. This period coincides with the arrival of Indo-European invaders, the so-called Aryans, whose name, of course, has been put to bad use at many points since. Keay traces the growth of subsequent states and kingdoms throughout antiquity and the medieval period, suggesting that the lack of unified government made the job of the European conquerors somewhat easier - but by no means inevitable. He continues to the modern day, his narrative ending with Indian-Pakistani conflicts in 1998.
Fluently told and well documented, Keay's narrative history is of much value to students and general readers with an interest in India's past and present.
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Publishers Weekly (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-22 00:00>
Sweeping from the ancient brick cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, built in the Indus Valley around 2000 B.C., to modern India's urban middle class armed with computers and cell phones, this erudite, panoramic history captures the flow of Indian civilization. No apologist for Britannia's rule, British historian Keay (Into India, etc.) gives the lie to comforting fantasies of the British Raj as the benevolently run "Jewel in the Crown." For most Indians, "Pax Britannica meant mainly 'Tax Britannica,'" he writes. Nor was British-ruled India peaceful, he adds, because India became a launch pad for British wars against Indonesia, Nepal and Burma, for the invasion of Afghanistan and the quashing of native revolts - often with the coerced participation of Indian troops. Finally, the Raj was "Axe Britannica," beginning the extensive deforestation of the subcontinent and the systematic suppression of its rural economy. Keay challenges much conventional scholarship in a dispassionate chronicle based largely on a fresh look at primary sources. For instance, the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, enthroned in 268 B.C., is revered because he preached tolerance and renounced armed violence, yet Keay notes that, contrary to popular opinion, Ashoka never specifically abjured warfare nor did he disband his army. Keay concludes this illustrated history by astutely surveying India's erratic progress in the half-century since independence, marked by communal violence, resurgence of regional interests and the rise of Hindu nationalism. This careful study serves up a banquet for connoisseurs and serious students of India. |
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Publishers Weekly (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-22 00:00>
Sweeping from the ancient brick cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, built in the Indus Valley around 2000 B.C., to modern India's urban middle class armed with computers and cell phones, this erudite, panoramic history captures the flow of Indian civilization. No apologist for Britannia's rule, British historian Keay (Into India, etc.) gives the lie to comforting fantasies of the British Raj as the benevolently run "Jewel in the Crown." For most Indians, "Pax Britannica meant mainly 'Tax Britannica,'" he writes. Nor was British-ruled India peaceful, he adds, because India became a launch pad for British wars against Indonesia, Nepal and Burma, for the invasion of Afghanistan and the quashing of native revolts - often with the coerced participation of Indian troops. Finally, the Raj was "Axe Britannica," beginning the extensive deforestation of the subcontinent and the systematic suppression of its rural economy. Keay challenges much conventional scholarship in a dispassionate chronicle based largely on a fresh look at primary sources. For instance, the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, enthroned in 268 B.C., is revered because he preached tolerance and renounced armed violence, yet Keay notes that, contrary to popular opinion, Ashoka never specifically abjured warfare nor did he disband his army. Keay concludes this illustrated history by astutely surveying India's erratic progress in the half-century since independence, marked by communal violence, resurgence of regional interests and the rise of Hindu nationalism. This careful study serves up a banquet for connoisseurs and serious students of India. |
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Gilbert Taylor (Booklist, USA), USA
<2007-10-22 00:00>
India's history is ancient and abundant. The profligacy of monuments so testifies, as does a once-lost civilization, the Harappan in the Indus valley, not to mention the annals commissioned by various conquerors, leading up to the better documented days of the British Raj and its successor states of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. If one has time to read but one overview of the cultures and chronology of the subcontinent, Keay's work has a strong claim to be that overview. His history exhibits the complete panoply of cultures that have arisen on, or arrived at, the plain of the Ganges River. The wonder is that in such limited length Keay concisely conveys the bedrock features of Indian civilization, such as those of Hinduism reaching back to Vedic literature and going forward in time to those of Islam. Within this mix of cultures, Keay avers, Indian historiography is afflicted with the selective interpretations of nationalist writers: he corrects the defect by example in this evenhanded, informed, and enthusiastic illumination of the vastness of Indian history. |
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Carol Mathis (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-22 00:00>
Keay's contribution to the field of single-volume overviews of Indian history is an excellent one. As mentioned by many other reviewers, the field is a vast one. In order to organize and make sense of the history of millions of people over a 5000 year span, writers often use a single perspective, particularly philosophy or religion. Keay steers clear of this particular pitfall, preferring to present a simple chronological summary of major events.
Although I found this approach refreshing, interesting, and enlightening in its own way, there is one shortcoming to the approach, which is that there was little passion behind the writing.
The balance of the approach, however, did help me to understand current events better, without prejudicing me towards one or another perspective, which was great. Recommended. |
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A reader (MSL quote), India
<2007-10-22 00:00>
Some subjects are so vast that they are a specialist's delight and a generalist's nightmare. Indian history is such a subject.
There is no shortage of multi-volume histories of India. But for the interested layman, there has been no single-volume history that is both authoritative and readable. John Keay's work fills an important gap on many a book shelf.
In 500-odd pages he succeeds in taking us through 5000 years of Indian history, giving equal importance to all periods and regions. The journey is not a dry recounting of names, places and dates. Keay (a professional writer, not a historian) keeps the reader entertained with his humour and sense of drama.
He also brings much-needed sanity to a subject that has been a battlefield for "Marxist" and "nationalist" historians. He is objective and sticks to facts and mainstream historical opinion. He upholds the widely accepted Aryan migration (not invasion) theory. At the same time, he does not hesitate to mention the temples destroyed by the Islamic invaders - incidents that were conveniently left out of our school history text books.
Towards the end, there are a few sore points as the Britisher in Keay reveals himself. He says the British did not follow a "Divide-and-Rule" policy. He does not approve of the 1961 liberation of Goa, the BJP or the 1998 nuclear tests. Who asked him?
But all in all, an excellent introduction to the subject. |
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Kafu Rahmansha (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-22 00:00>
There are enough books on the history of India to fill a small library. That's no joke. Simply go to any online bookstore and search for yourself. Choosing one is hard enough, understanding it is another matter entirely. That being said, Mr. Keay's writing does more than an adequate job of sending the reader through India's past while adding bits of humor and intrigue along the way. Simply put, if you have little knowledge of India's history, you will find this quite informative and interesting.
Keay's formula is simple yet effective. Everything is well laid out and easy to follow. His focus is more on ancient history as opposed to recent events. It is evident that Keay is more interested in such things as the development of the three major religions that stemmed from India, and the Indus River civilization, than touching on subjects of modern Indian government. The reader is brought full scale from the very beginning on to the present, with an emphasis on early events. He does touch on political issues, and at times is quite opinionated. Of course, that is expected when you're discussing events where evidence can vary from source to source.
If you are already well versed in India's history, you might still find this well worth your time. However, some of his statements are questionable in terms of accuracy (especially when countered by more recent evidence), though nothing is fully disprovable. At times he will leave you wanting more information and more intricate details on in-depth matters, but he avoids this to keep the script following and well structured. As I stated earlier, he is opinionated, but not to an unbearable point. The text never bogs down with unwanted tidbits, and I found myself reading for hours without realizing it.
Overall, Keay did a solid job. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in India's history and culture. There are few books out there that can be considered superior to this one, and though it is far from the perfect account, you will find it entertaining and informative. |
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Tanager (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-22 00:00>
I'm not sure I have a lot to add to the reviews already written other than to agree with certain important points to consider for those thinking of buying this book.
1) The history of India not only as a nation but as a region is what this book attempts to tackle - and that is a very long history, one peopled by many cultures, eras, individuals, ethnicities, etc., and to do so in a single volume is a task for which the term daunting strikes me as an understatement. This book is a good attempt at that, but it's not without its faults, to be sure.
2) The scope of the book means that Keay must include so many details just to maintain the integrity of his chronology that at times, I found myself having to read the same three pages repeatedly to try and figure out just what the succession of events was that he was trying to describe. Extrapolate that over entire chapters, and you can begin to get a sense of how much information Keay has packed into this book.
3) His writing is, at times, a bit dry - again, that's likely b/c it's tough to spend a lot of time with lengthy descriptions of every single event/individual when you're covering so much ground, but having said that, I think he does a pretty good job nonetheless.
I frankly think that this is a book best digested in portions - a chapter here, a chapter there, rather than as a single read, unless you are already somewhat familiar with all the periods covered therein (I wasn't). I find that I get more out of the book on successive reads - if I'm reading another book that deals with, for example, the Hellenistic period in the Mediterranean, then I can turn to this book to read about the corresponding period in the subcontinent, and I think that I appreciate what I am reading more than when I first attempted to plow through Keay's work cover to cover. |
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DesertFox (MSL quote), India
<2007-10-22 00:00>
Anyone with a passing interest in Indian History would acknowledge the colossal expanse of the subject matter. As the birthplace of an indigenous civilization dating back to the 3rd Millennium B.C, the land that nourished three major religions and the seat of power of many dominant rulers in these intervening years, Indian History is also intricately linked to the history of many other South Asian countries, not to mention the two nations which sprang directly from this land. Any historian attempting to capture the general history of India in a single volume faces the daunting task of capturing the multi ethnic flavour of this land which for the most part of the period in consideration comprised of more than one kingdom or state, each pursuing their own territorial and cultural interests. This partly explains the relative paucity of an all encompassing work on this subject, even while literature abounds with treatments on specific sub-topics of this genre. John Keay attempts just that in his "India: A History" and comes up with a top quality work, one which manages to effectively capture and present the matter to the reader like a rich palimpsest in it's varied and vivid hues.
Starting from the shores of the Indus River and the Indus Valley civilization in the year 3000 B.C, John Keay tracks down the significant phases in the story of the making of India as it is now, in the process covering such important sub-topics such as the Aryan Invasion, the writing of the Vedas, Greek invasion, the Maurya and Gupta empires, the South Indian Dynasties, Kushanas, the Muslim Conquests, the Delhi Sultanates, the Moguls, the Marathas, the colonial incursions, the establishment of the British Raj culminating with the Freedom struggle and establishment of the Indian Republic. No topic is given an overbearing preponderance, the attention accorded mostly being based on the percentage of populace impacted by the specific event and presently what we have is a book that has no undue leanings to any period or aspect of Indian History.
Understandably, the book leaves a minor section of the "Mile Deep Research" Historians looking for more details on subjects close to their heart such as the Vedas, Archeology, Religious movements etc. However, the gargantuan scope of this book precludes any such in-depth treatment on some of these esoteric matters and besides, inclusion of lengthy sections on these might have rendered the work unwieldy and I daresay boring to a great cross-section of the readers. The book lays out every facet of this mammoth subject in an easy to follow, logical structure, deftly moving from one frame to the other while striving to maintain such continuity as is possible of an essentially incoherent story.
John Keay's method of story telling seems uniquely suited to the purpose of this book. He chooses mostly to operate from the macro level and then to peel the onion systematically through long sweeping shots of specific sections, returning to the original flow to move on to the next frame. The language is elegant and occasionally revealing of the author's dry sense of humor, keeping the reader involved throughout the book. For the most part, the author also remains dispassionate in his narrative and focuses on documented facts and figures, not given to excessive conjecturing. However, while on Britain's Colonial enterprises in the sub-continent, no native English author could be expected to maintain a strictly neutral point of view, and the author gives in to the average European's patronizing attitude to the British Raj, sharing their conviction about the intrinsic benevolence of British governance of India. I do not personally hold this against John Keay though, and I look at it purely as a matter of perspective. I believe that a student of history needs to take an eclectic approach while on the subject, that being the sole differentiator between him and the ones given to pedagogical dogmatism.
Notwithstanding this (slightly and only) discordant note in this lengthy account, I whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject, virtuosos and novices alike and irrespective of their historic viewpoints. You are guaranteed an absorbing read ahead. |
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David Oldacre (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-22 00:00>
Having read all the editorials and customer reviews of this obviously popular book, I realise that there is a great danger of letting one's personal view of history get in the way of an objective analysis of the contents of a books such as this. So let me say up front that I have no firm views on the provenance of Inidan civilisation, other than to say that I am attracted to the theory that the Indus civilisation is the forerunner of the later Indian civilisations. But holding that view doesn't necessarily make it so!
My interest in history goes back to my college days, and I now have the time to read as much as history I can take. I have usually tended to concentrate on the Ancient Near East and Europe and those dark eras (such as Western Europe in 5th - 6th centuries AD, Ancient Near East in Late Bronze Age times, and the early civilisations prior to that) where documentary evidence is either sparse, contradictory, confusing, or downright incorrect. But I have never been totally satisfied with the explanations of how the early civilisations developed, and the impact of India on these early civilisations was an unkown to me
One of the problems I have in understanding these complex civilisations is how many of the theories are based on so few facts. I have read many books where the author has built hypothesis upon hypothesis to come up with conclusions which I, along with many others, find very hard to accept. These books are often very selective in their use of the facts and tend ro focus only on those which support their theories. This calls into question their objectivity, and so I usually suspend my judgement on their findings until I have searched out more hard data. Even so, they have usually served a useful function in forcing me to widen my search "for the truth"
I accept the fact that there are historians and that there are scholars and that they have a different focus. For me a successful and respected historian (like John Keay) is best if he concentrates on a survey of what is known, what the various competing theories are, and how the available data has been interpreted to support these theories. For scholars it is different, because they are trying to discover and interpret more facts, and for that they must have some view or theory as to what happened. This is why I, as an amateur, must be ever watchful for the use of selective arguments, and the danger of theories developed on the basis of hypotheses built on other hypotheses. For me, the completeness and the correct interpretation of available data is very important.
Like most westerners, my knowledge of India is very limited. Oh yes, I had learned about the Raj from my school days, and realise how British Empire centric it was. In recent years, as I read more about the Ancient Near East, the more I kept on picking up peripheral references to contacts with early India. So a book such as "Search for the Cradle of Civilisation" by Feuerstein, Kak, Frawley would naturally catch my eye, and an interesting and well written book it is too. However, it left me with the problem that I really didn't know enough about the history of India to determine how selective the authors were being in the development of their position that the survivors of the Harrapan (Sarasvati) civilisation were the authors of the Vedas and the founders of the later great civilisations of the Ganges. I feel that they have put forward a convincing case, but my knowledge of that era is so limited that I need to know a lot more in order for me to accept their position as the only right one
So in doing a survey of general books on the history of India, and after reading the various editorials and customer reviews, John Keay's book stood out for me as the most up-to-date one to start with, being one which would help me understand the history of India a little better, knowing full well, of course, that there were many others which could probably have served that purpose just as well..
Did it meet my expectations? Yes it did, although because of my focus, I would have liked to have seen more on ancient history, and less on the modern era. But you take what you've got, and while it was a hard slog at times, I found it to be absorbing, interesting, and helpful. The charts and the maps were excellent and really helped me understand the confusing facts about the various dynasties of the last 2300 years, and in particular, the Moslem conquest, the British Raj, and the period of post independence. The extensive biography assuaged my disappointment in the coverage of the period prior to 320BCE, and I now feel positioned and well motivated to investigate many other promising books which focus on that particular era. I have at least 8 candidates for my next studies which include Shereen Ratnagar, Richard Meadow, Gyan Gupta, Gregory Possehl, Burton Stein, Jane McIntosh and Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Romila Thapar - and that will keep me busy for a while! |
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