Shadows at noon

Based on decades of scholarship, this is the authoritative history of South Asia in the 20th century. It tells the subcontinent's story from the British Raj through independence and partition to the forging of the modern nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Unlike other histories of the region which concentrate exclusively on politics, here food, leisure and the household are given as much importance as nationhood, migration and the state. Thematic rather than chronological, each chapter illuminates an overarching topic that has shaped South Asia.