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Incarnations: A History of India in Fifty Lives, by Sunil Khilnani
Ebook Incarnations: A History of India in Fifty Lives, by Sunil Khilnani
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Review
"A whirlwind tour of roughly 2,500 years of Indian history in 50 fast-paced chapters. . . . Khilnani's writing is easy to read, yet authoritative. He has spent much of his career studying-India . . . [and] strives to connect the lives and ideas of his subjects to one another and to contemporary India . . . Readers can dip in and out of chapters randomly without being confused, but Incarnations is most rewarding when read from start to finish . . . To my mind the best thing Khilnani has done is to leave the reader wanting more." ―Vikas Bajaj, The New York Times Book Review"An incisive work of popular history . . . undercutting, irreverent, and impish. It attempts to show, through prodigious but lightly worn scholarship, how complex and heterodox the Indian past was, and how it has been, and continues to be, constructed . . . Khilnani offers a fresh, cosmopolitan way of examining the Indian past. Everywhere he looks he sees rivers of influence and thought and ideas." ―Karan Mahajan, The New Yorker"Beautifully written with both scholarship and an enviably light touch, thoughtfully constructed and enviably erudite in its wide-ranging references, and as much at ease discussing higher mathematics and philosophy as politics and art, Incarnations is a major work by one of India’s most impressive minds, and the best possible introduction to both the complexities and the charms of Indian history." ―William Dalrymple, The Guardian "Incisive and elegantly written . . . A work of distinction." ―John Keay, The Times Literary Supplement "Revelatory, bold and contemplative . . . Scholarly and accessible, lively and deeply serious . . . Is this simply cashing in on the idea behind the blockbuster A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor? Can anyone ever match the erudition and verve of the erstwhile director of the British Museum? Yes and yes. And though this may be heretical, at times Khilnani may even have surpassed him." ―The Independent"A tour de force of intellectual history, engagingly written." ―Financial Times"Khilnani is a rare blend of scholar and cracking travel writer . . . This exceptional book serves as a further reminder of India's great strengths." ―Sunday Times (UK)"Khilnani builds a mosaic of India's history since the time of the Buddha . . . [and] shows how the past has been remade to serve present-day agendas . . . [Incarnations is] punchy, personal, and quick moving, creating an incentive to learn more." ―Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs"It is hard to think of this mammoth task being executed any better. Even those who know Indian history well will be introduced to figures they did not know―and discover new things about familiar figures." ―The Telegraph "Fuelled by a quiet, relentless curiosity and an extraordinary ability to capture the sweep of history. Incarnations is an essential, and timely, read . . . It is also an exceptionally liberating intellectual journey to take. Mr. Khilnani's prose is light and fast-paced . . . the solid labour of travel, research and meetings with other scholars as well as interviewees builds a stronger foundation for Incarnations than most non-fiction books about India can claim. And a more entertaining one than most, too." ―Business Standard "This is a terrific book. Each biography runs into 10-13 pages, and though the prose is deceptively easy, you probably want to take your time as you savour the book, perhaps reading a piece daily. Or even reading and rereading it in this fashion for a long time to come. I know I will be placing a copy with each of my children so that they may know, in these anxiety-inducing times, what it truly means to be Indian." ―Mint (India)"Khilnani’s choices are spirited, relevant, and aimed to provoke 'pressing contemporary questions' . . . immensely readable." ―Kirkus Reviews"An idiosyncratic and lively journey across 2,500 years of Indian history, offering bite-size essays on the lives of 50 exemplary figures whose achievements and afterlives have influenced contemporary Indian identity . . . Khilnani’s essays are provocative and serious, a worthy rebuttal to the image of Indian history as 'curiously unpeopled.'" ―Publishers Weekly "How does one capture the multifaceted complexities of a country like India? Historian Khilnani presents a novel approach: weave a tapestry of 50 figures from the country’s rich and ancient history that serves not only as an innovative introduction to the world’s largest democracy but also a gauge to evaluate how that past informs the present . . . The well-researched yet short chapters cover a lot of ground with ease, and Khilnani succeeds in achieving his goal of emphasizing the continued relevance of history." ―Poornima Apte, Booklist
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About the Author
Sunil Khilnani is the author of the acclaimed and influential The Idea of India (FSG, 1998). Formerly the Starr Foundation Professor and Director of the South Asia Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., he is currently the Avantha Professor and Director of the India Institute at King's College London. He is married to the writer Katherine Boo.
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Product details
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Reprint edition (September 19, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780374537210
ISBN-13: 978-0374537210
ASIN: 0374537216
Product Dimensions:
5.8 x 1.2 x 8.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.4 out of 5 stars
26 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#274,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A thoughtful compilation of personalities who made an impact on India and outside over 2,500 years. It is a nice way to present the impact they made rather than their life stories which are well known. The author has also chosen a few lesser known persons, who nevertheless left a big impact on the nation.
Picture a stretch of territory of nearly 1.9 million square miles, housing 1.7 billion people. These people speak 26 major languages and more than 1,500 lesser languages and dialects. How can such a place be a single nation? In fact, in recent years, that territory has consisted of three countries: India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. But historically it was, in the view of historians and geographers, just one country. That’s India.2,500 years of Indian historyIn his engrossing new book, Incarnations: India in Fifty Lives, the eminent Indian historian Sunil Khilnani sets out to paint an impressionistic history of that endlessly complex country. The 50 lives he sketches in a series of brief essays span the full 2,500 years of the subcontinent’s discoverable history. Khilnani’s subjects include poets, religious leaders, emperors, artists, actors, film directors, social activists, political leaders, industrialists, and more. The effect is dizzying. In his attempt to convey a sense of India as a whole, he highlights instead the many, many small parts that make the country appear implausible. In the subcontinent, the whole is not greater than the parts.Without question, India has produced a great many gifted and influential individuals. From the Buddha and the Emperor Ashoka to Mohandas Gandhi, India has made its presence known to the world. These three towering figures are all included in Incarnations. Most of the rest are unfamiliar to most Western audiences. Even having spent time in India and read some of its history, I recognized no more than a handful of the 47 others portrayed in the book.Unsparing portraits of India’s greatsKhilnani’s selection of subjects is unorthodox. For example, the country’s founding Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, is missing. Many of the others portrayed in the book are unlikely to figure in anyone else’s list of India’s greatest individuals. “If you don’t yet know the arresting stories [told here],†he writes, that is perhaps not accidental.†Instead of Nehru and other latter-day personalities whom others might include, he sketches the lives of such individuals as “Malik Ambar, a gifted seventeenth-century Abyssinian slave turned Deccan warrior king†and “Chidambaram Pillai, a dogged Tamil nationalist who took on the steamship might of the British Empire.†It’s unlikely that even a well-educated Indian in any field but history would recognize either of these names.Incarnations is no celebration of India’s greatness. Khilnani’s portrayal of his subjects is often merciless. Virtually every one of the essays in the book shows their dark side. Mohandas Gandhi, for instance, is portrayed in a particularly unflattering light. But so are most of the other people included in the book. Don’t read Incarnations expecting white-washed Indian history.Diversity squaredThe United States today pictures itself as ethnically diverse. The Census Bureau reports that more than 350 languages are spoken in American homes. But only a relative handful communicate exclusively in any language but English or Spanish. America’s diversity pales beside that of India. There, 29 languages are each spoken by at least one million people. The top 10 are spoken by at least 33 million. Indians who can carry on conversations in five or six languages may still be unable to communicate with a majority of their countrymen. In religion, too, the two countries contrast sharply. In the US today, two major variants of Christianity encompass most of the population. India is “the only place on earth where each of the world’s four great religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam) has at different times ruled large areas.†Even today, all four claim large numbers of faithful in India.Sunil Khilnani’s Incarnations will help you gain a sense of the depth of Indian history and the breadth of its differences. It won’t help you “understand India,†because no one can do that.
I was interested in reading a good history of India, and was recommended this book by a friend. I really enjoyed it and found it a good way to get a broad view of India as told through the lives of 50 people throughout Indian history. Each story was an easy read and moved fast, and it was a good way to cover a lot of interesting ground in an easy to read way.
This book is remarkable! I knew little of India's history but am learning life by life. Surprisingly, I can't put this book down!
Well articulated and balanced perspective on the different lives. Even as an Indian reading the book, I truly felt educated after completing it.
Extremely well written book. Very entertaining.
Vignettes from India's long history, written with great style and efficiency.
Excellent work by Khilnani. A good place to start if seeking an overview of India's history.
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