O’Sullivan, Michael
Claude Markovits, India and the world: A history of connections, C. 1750–2000 - The Indian Economic and Social History Review - 61(1), Jan-Mar, 2024: p.138-140
laude Markovits, India and the World: A History of Connections, c. 1750–2000 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 304 pp.
With India and the World, Claude Markovits has made a significant intervention in the global history of South Asia. The book is not only a work of synthesis, but also of original research and interpretation. Organised around six thematic chapters—economy, human circulation, military episodes, intellectual exchange and cultural flows—and a seventh chapter on the 1857 Rebellion and the 1947 Partition as global events, Markovits skilfully weaves together diverse histories and historiographies into a cogent narrative that students of South Asia, both neophytes and old salts, will do well to read. The text compares favourably with existing primers like A Concise History of India by Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf and Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy by Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal. Later editions of these texts have sought to situate India in a more global setting and to incorporate some of the recent literature on global history as a method. However, it is perhaps fair to say that the strictly global dimensions of these histories read as something of an afterthought in an otherwise Indo-centric story. For that reason, Markovits’ text is a most welcome addition. Ideally, future editions and reprints will continue to solidify its reputation.- Reproduced
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00194646231219054
Claude Markovits, India and the world: A history of connections, C. 1750–2000 - The Indian Economic and Social History Review - 61(1), Jan-Mar, 2024: p.138-140
laude Markovits, India and the World: A History of Connections, c. 1750–2000 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 304 pp.
With India and the World, Claude Markovits has made a significant intervention in the global history of South Asia. The book is not only a work of synthesis, but also of original research and interpretation. Organised around six thematic chapters—economy, human circulation, military episodes, intellectual exchange and cultural flows—and a seventh chapter on the 1857 Rebellion and the 1947 Partition as global events, Markovits skilfully weaves together diverse histories and historiographies into a cogent narrative that students of South Asia, both neophytes and old salts, will do well to read. The text compares favourably with existing primers like A Concise History of India by Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf and Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy by Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal. Later editions of these texts have sought to situate India in a more global setting and to incorporate some of the recent literature on global history as a method. However, it is perhaps fair to say that the strictly global dimensions of these histories read as something of an afterthought in an otherwise Indo-centric story. For that reason, Markovits’ text is a most welcome addition. Ideally, future editions and reprints will continue to solidify its reputation.- Reproduced
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00194646231219054