Historical Books in India:
The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor
The Great Indian Novel is a satirical novel by Shashi Tharoor. It is a
fictional work that takes the story of the Mahabharata, the epic of
Hindu mythology, and recasts and resets it in the context of the Indian
Independence Movement and the first three decades post-independence.
Figures from Indian history are transformed into characters from
mythology, and the mythical story of India is retold as a history of
Indian independence and subsequent history, up through the 1980s. (Source: Wikipedia)
India: A history by John Keay
John Keay is an English journalist and author specialising in writing
popular histories about India, often with a particular focus on their
colonisation and exploration by Europeans. In “India: A history”, John
provides a panaromic view starting from the cities of Harappa and
Mohenjodaro of the Indus Valley civilizations all the way to the current
modern India. This book is considered by many as a perfect textbook for
any student of India.
India after Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha
Ramachandra Guha is perhaps one of India’s best historians currently.
This book of his talks about India’s history after it gained
independence from the British. This is the perfect book for you to
understand the evolution of Modern India. Guha, a former professor and
now historian, does an awe-inspiring job of making sense of India’s
chaotic and eventful history since independence – the partition, Nehru’s
socialist policies, Rajiv Gandhi’s brief but impactful career, the rise
of religion and caste-based politics – almost everything you want to
know is there in this 900-page book.
