In 1925, William and Charlotte Wiser arrived in the North Indian village of Karimpur. Over the next five years they wrote one of the first studies of village India, originally published in 1930. Charlotte Wiser continued to observe and write about the village until her death, when Susan Wadley picked up the narrative. With updates from the 1960s, 1970s, 1984, and 2000, this expanded edition now encapsulates seventy-five years of continuity and change in the village.

The book traces the initial awkwardness between the Wisers and the villagers and the years of friendship and welcome that...