Penguin presents the authoritative India’s War by Srinath Raghavan.
Srinath Raghavan’s ‘India’s War: The Making of Modern South Asia’ talks about the involvement and contribution of India in the Allied war effort and how it won them the war. Between 1939 and 1945, India underwent extraordinary and irreversible change. Hundreds of thousands of Indians suddenly found themselves in uniform, fighting in the Middle East, North and East Africa, Europe and—something simply never imagined— against a Japanese army poised to invade eastern India. By the war’s end, the Indian Army had become the largest volunteer force in the conflict, consisting of 2.5 million men, while many millions more had offered their industrial, agricultural and military labour.
In India’s War, historian Srinath Raghavan paints a compelling picture of battles abroad and of life on the home front, arguing that World War II is crucial to explaining how and why colonial rule ended in South Asia. The war forever altered the country’s social landscape, and when the dust settled, India had emerged as a major Asian power with her feet set firmly on the path towards independence.
From Gandhi’s early support of Britain’s war efforts to the crucial Burma Campaign, Raghavan’s authoritative and vivid account shows how India’s economy, politics and people were forever transformed, laying the groundwork for the emergence of modern South Asia.
The author:
Srinath Raghavan is senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. A former infantry officer in the Indian Army, he has studied and taught at King’s College London. He is the author of two highly praised books: War and Peace in Modern India: A Strategic History of the Nehru Years (2010) and 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh (2013). He is a recipient of the 2015 Infosys Prize (Social Sciences).
Praise for the book:
‘Exemplary and enthralling . . . Raghavan excels in explaining what went on behind the lines’
John Keay, Literary Review
‘Authoritative, expansive and incisive . . . Helps restore India to the global 20th century’
Sunil Khilnani