This is one of the key books on modern India, acclaimed as the definitive account, and now republished with a new introduction. The Idea of India was originally published to mark the 50th anniversary of India's independence and has since established itself as a uniquely valuable and authoritative book on a key subject. At the heart of India's self-image since independence has been 'the idea of India' - modern, technocratic, egalitarian, secular - but the tensions between the idea and the reality have become almost intolerable. This book shows how. 'A rich analysis of contemporary India ... spirited, combative and insight-filled' Amartya Sen, TLS
