‘A New History of India’: A book conceived with grand intentions that succeeds occasionally

Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Shobita Punja and Toby Sinclair have co-authored, A New History of India, a new book on the history of India. Claiming a timeline “from its origins to the twenty-first century”, this book presents itself as an ambitious project, condensing thousands of years of history into the span of a few hundred pages.

Let us take a look at the book through three questions: what it says; why it says what it says; and, if there is a need for a book of history such as this one.

The authors are a modern historian, an ancient historian, and a lens-based documenter, respectively. What is interesting is that they do not specify their individual contributions to the book, though their specialities suggest where they each of them might have come in. But by not demarcating this in any way, they make this book a combined work.

The authors write out a descriptive narration of “India” – from its geological processes to the beginnings of state formation, onward to the rise and fall of small and large states and then the arrival of colonial powers, ending in the politics of present day. The chapters are short and concise, complemented by multiple images and separate information boxes. One of...

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