This book’s full title is above, but on the cover, it says, Keay’s panoramic vision and multidisciplinary approach serves the function of all great historical writing. It illuminates the present. This is by Thrity Umrigar, the Boston Globe. This is a history of India from around 3000 BCE to around 2000 AD. It took me a very long time to read this book and it was worth it. I read the second edition, but apparently this has recently been republished.
What stood out for me was the massacres of Indians by the Muslims and the Muslims by the Indians. There has been a surprising number of these massacres since British rule ended in 1948. I knew little of Indian history before reading this book. That is why I was attracted to it.
The reviews at Goodreads seem to be the best place for reviews of this book. There are quite a number. Some positive and others negative. One reviewer lists a number of books on India he thinks are better. There are a lot of long and thoughtful reviews on this site. Bryan Caswell on Concerning History does an interesting review of this book. The site of Kirkus has a book review on this book. The reviewer ends with saying about the book “Without peer among general studies, a history that is intelligent, incisive, and eminently readable”.
Short comment by John Keay on YouTube. John Keay is interviewed on Harper Broadcast. This is a short video of less than 10 minutes. Rida’s Reels on Instagram offers 6 books on India and Partition.
An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.
