Midnight’s Descendants: South Asia from Partition to the Present Day

ISBN-13: 9780007326587 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 416 str.

John Keay

Opis

An epic narrative history that compares and contrasts the fortunes of all the countries that make up South Asia.

If British India had not been partitioned in 1947, its population would today be the world s largest. At c1.5 billion, Midnight s Descendants (the offspring of those affected by the midnight hour Partition) already outnumber Europeans and Chinese; and they are growing faster than either. They comprise all the peoples of what is now called South Asia (the preferred term for the partitioned subcontinent of modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, plus Nepal and Sri Lanka).

Midnight s Descendants is the first history of the region as a whole. Correlating and contrasting the fortunes of all the constituent nations over the last six decades affords unique insights into what is hailed as one of the world s most dynamic regions.

John Keay is an expert on the region and the book will be the first account to incorporate the rich story of South Asia s transnational, or diasporic, peoples from the overlooked narratives of the subcontinent to the rise of India as a global force, Midnight s Descendants will be expansive and tumultuous in the great tradition of India s narrative epics."

Recenzje

'Keay's excellent new book on the modern history of South Asia plunges the reader head first into some wildly swirling currents ... His work is descriptive, panoramic, a large-scale survey of titanic struggles and the extraordinary survival of democracies' Spectator

'This absorbing, important history of South Asia over the six decades since British India was partitioned is the first time a book has been written on the history of this region as a whole' Independent

'A manifest triumph' Literary Review

From the reviews of 'India: A History'

'It is hard to imagine anyone succeeding more gracefully in producing a balanced overview than John Keay has done in "India"... a book that is as fluent and readable as it is up-to-date and impartial. Hardly a page passes without some fascinating nugget or surprising fact' William Dalrymple, Guardian

'Certainly the most balanced and lucid history... his passion for India shines through and illuminates every page... puts Keay in the front rank of Indian historiographers.' Charles Allen, Spectator

'Keay's astute commentary on the development of Indian history is a delight... one of the best general studies of the subcontinent.' Andrew Lycett, Sunday Times

O autorze

John Keay is the author of four acclaimed histories: 'The Honourable Company', 'Last Post', about the imperial disengagement of the Far East; the two-volume 'Explorers of the Western Himalayas' and 'India: A History'. His books on India include 'India Discovered', 'Into India' and 'The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was Named'. John Keay is married with four children, lives in Scotland and is co-editor with Julia Keay of the 'Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland'.