After more than twenty-five years in print, A New History of India continues to be the most accessible and popular one-volume history of India available. Stanley Wolpert has condensed more than 4,000 years of India's history into a graceful and engaging text. He discusses modern India's rapidly growing population, industry, and economy, and also considers the prospects for India's future. Wolpert strives to record India's history fairly and truthfully, portraying the brightest achievements of Indian civilization as well as its persistent social inequities and its economic and political corruption. Now entirely redesigned, A New History of India, 7/e, includes photographs for the first time, a full-color map of India and the surrounding area, updated bibliographic material, and a revised final chapter reflecting the significant social, political, and economic issues that have arisen since the year 2000.

Come, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of prime ministers. The sixth edition of A New History of India gives a chiefly political, mostly modern history of one of the world's most ancient civilizations, and consists mostly of fighting and politics (which is like fighting, and often leads to it). I found Jawaharlal Nehru's running commentary on India in Glimpses of World History far more useful for appreciating pre-modern India, but that work has the limitation of having been completed in the late 1930s. An introductory history of India. About 25% covers prehistory through ~1600.

Much of the information here is about the development of different religions. Wolpert is not very clear whether the arrival of the Aryans was an invasion, conquest, or migration. He uses terms like 'Aryan invasion' and 'Aryan conquest' most of the time, but says at the beginning of one chapter that it was more of a gradual assimilation. So why call it a conquest or invasion? Another 25% covers the European trading/colonial period.

This seems to be as much about the British as it is about Indians. Roughly 20% covers the independence movement from the late 1800s through World War II. Much of the information in these two sections focuses on politics and diplomacy (or lack thereof). The last 30% covers independent India and a little bit about Pakistan where it's necessary in order to explain the political maneuvering. Most of this deals with economics and politics. These chapters have obviously been reworked as new editions come out, to bring the book up to date.

However, it's not clear how consistently the chapters have been updated. Comcast Self Provisioning Tool here. For example, when Wolpert says something hasn't happened 'yet', does that mean through 1977, sometime in the 1980s, sometime in the 1990s, or 2004? Also, this section seems rather partisan or opinionated for a history text (though not as opinionated as the preface).

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This new edition brings Stanley Wolpert's brilliantly succinct and accessible introduction to India completely up to date for a new generation of readers, travelers, and students. In crisp detail, Wolpert gives a panoramic overview of the continent on which the world's most fascinating ancient civilization gave birth to one of its most complex modern democratic nations. India now includes new sections on the country's current global economic development, the recent national elections, and on its international relations, including those with Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, and the United States, India's new strategic global partner. Preface to the 2009 Edition 1. The Environment The River Heat Monsoon Rains Mountain Walls 2. Historical Prologue Pre-Aryan Urbanization Aryan Conquests and Emerging Synthesis Ancient Imperial Unification and Its Limits Islamic Conquests Westernization and Modernization Young India's Revolutions and Reforms The Impact of Mahatma Gandhi 3.

Religion and Philosophy Yoga and Shaivism Mother Goddess Worship Nonviolent Buddhism and Jainism Laws of Action and Reincarnation Devotional Vaishnavism Higher Hindu Philosophy Islam in India Sikhism Modernist Religious Movements 4. Society Caste and Class Untouchability The Family Roles of Women Village Life The Urban Revolution 5. Arts and Sciences Dance, Drama, and Music Worship in Bronze and Stone Caves, Temple and Regal Art, and Architecture The Art of Literature Scientific Contributions 6.

Polity and Foreign Policy Kingship and Democracy Economic Planning and Development Foreign Policy Indo-U.S. Relations Indo-Pak Relations Sino-Indian Relations Indo-Sri Lankan Relations Afghanistan The Future Notes Suggested Additional Reading Index. “Wolpert is a masterful storyteller.... The work reflects the wisdom and global vision of someone who has dedicated a career to the study of South Asian history and more.”—Pamela Lothspeich Journal Of Contemporary Asia Praise for previous editions: “To all of us who delightedly and sometimes repetitively call ourselves Old India hands, Stanley Wolpert is the acknowledged authority. This book tells why.

Indian history, art, culture, and contemporary politics are here in accurate, wide-ranging, and lucid prose.' —John Kenneth Galbraith “Wolpert understands India..... Fluent, wide-ranging and often wise, this volume is a useful addition to a shelf of books on India.”— Washington Post Book World “A superb distillation of a lifetime's learning by UCLA's great historian of India. Refreshingly concrete and detailed, [and] vibrantly written, Wolpert's overview repeatedly succeeds at explaining a culture that gave us little things like the decimal system, chess, cotton cloth, meditation, and two religions called Buddhism and Hinduism.”— Philadelphia Inquirer “If one were to read a single book about India in a lifetime, this should be it.”— Library Journal.