 Cover of 10th anniversary edition | |
| Author | Ramachandra Guha |
|---|---|
| Translator | Sushant Jha (Hindi) |
| Language | English |
| Subject | History of India |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Ecco Press (HarperCollins) in the US,Picador in India |
Publication date | 24 July 2007 |
| Publication place | India |
| Media type | Print (hardcover andpaperback) |
| Pages | 898 pp (First Edition), 919 pp (Revised and Updated Edition) |
| ISBN | 978-0-330-50554-3 |
India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy is a non-fiction book by Indian historianRamachandra Guha. First published byHarperCollins in August 2007.[1][2]
The book covers the history of the India after it gained independence from theBritish in 1947.[1] A revised and expanded edition was published in 2017.[3]
In November 1997, Peter Straus, then head ofPicador, met Ramachandra Guha and suggested that he write a history of independent India. Straus had read an article by Guha in the Oxford journalPast and Present. He suggested that since Indian historians typically stopped their narratives with Indian independence in 1947, a scholarly analysis of modern Indian history post-independence would be of interest. Guha signed a contract in March 1998, with a delivery date for the book specified for March 2002.[4]
In writing the book, Guha consulted the private papers of several important Indian personalities, as well as newspaper records, housed at theNehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. The private papers of Indian independence activist and politicianC Rajagopalachari andP N Haksar,Indira Gandhi's principal secretary 1967 and 1973, were especially useful to Guha's research. Guha sent across his final draft to Straus in 2006, and the book was published in 2007.[4]
Guha re-organized Part Five chronologically (in the earlier edition this section followed a thematic approach), removed a chapter (A People's Entertainments), added two chapters based entirely on new material (Progress and its Discontents & The Rise of the BJP Systems), and rewrote the epilogue (A 50–50 Democracy) for the 10th anniversary edition.
Freedom and Parricide—The Logic of Division—Apples in the Basket—A Valley Bloody and Beautiful—Refugees and the Republic—Ideas of India
The Biggest Gamble in History—Home and the World—Redrawing the Map—The Conquest of Nature—The Law and the Prophets—Securing Kashmir—Tribal Trouble
The Southern Challenge—The Experience of Defeat—Peace in Our Time—Minding the Minorities
War and Succession—Leftward Turns—The Elixir of Victory—The Rivals—Autumn of the Matriarch—Life Without the Congress—Democracy in Disarray—This Son also Rises
Rights and Riots—A Multi-polar Polity—Rulers and Riches—Progress and its Discontents—The Rise of the BJP Systems
India After Gandhi was translated intoHindi asBharat Gandhi Ke Baad byIndia Today journalist Sushant Jha New Delhi.[5] This book has been translated into Hindi in two volumes asBharat: Gandhi Ke Baad andBharat: Nehru Ke Baad and published by Penguin. TheTamil version of the book is published in the nameIndhiya varalaaru Gandhikku pin - Part 1 & 2 by Kizhakku and translated by R. P. Sarathy. TheBengali version of the book is published in the name "গাঁধী-উত্তর ভারতবর্ষ" by Ananda Publishers Private Limited and translated by Ashish Lahiri.
India after Gandhi was chosen Book of the Year byThe Economist,The Wall Street Journal andOutlook Magazine, among others.[6]
The book was one of the best non-fiction books of the decade (2010–2019) as perThe Hindu.[7]
The book won the 2011Sahitya Akademi Award for English.[6]