Good Short Semi-Scholarly Readings on India?

jarosity

Hello -
Any suggestions for short readings on Indian histories (leaning toward the more contemporary historical events) focusing mostly on Tamil Nadu and/or Andhra Pradesh?
jairus

phobal

Are you in university?

If not, go to the nearest one, find their info-commons, get on their computers, and you can easily use searches like Academic Search Premier to find some good articles.

gentoo

Hello -
Any suggestions for short readings on Indian histories (leaning toward the more contemporary historical events) focusing mostly on Tamil Nadu and/or Andhra Pradesh?

I wish I was the one asking the question and someone else answering it. : )) I would like to see this kind of reading list as well! Apologies in advance if my response is a bit all over the place.

It is hard to find these kind of books. Just the fact you said “semi-scholarly”, makes me think you’ve read the scholarly texts. So you know what they are like. Unfortunately these are the ones you are most likely to find. I am not sure if you would be able to buy them in Korea. And even in America they are expensive and hard to find. Every time I find a book that I want. It seems like it can only be had through Amazon for $85 USD. You are best bet is still academic libraries. And even though you said semi-scholarly I would recommend searching through the “scholarly” bibliographies and then finding the less “academic” ones.

Unfortunately there isn’t much of a market for semi-scholarly books in India. (I remember reading somewhere that the print run for an Indian English novel is only 5000 copies. Now this was a couple of years ago. Even if you quintuple that number, it tells you the state of the publishing industry in India.) I am not saying that there are no semi-scholarly works published. But I find a lot of them are really shoddy (the writing and the printing). And then there are the few – the well made books. Based on your interests I really would recommend reading the book review page of the Hindu, you will find lots of leads there. But some of these books are probably available only in India, and perhaps only in Madras. (There are a few books sellers online, for example vedamsbooks.com, but they seem a bit pricey. Usually these books are priced around Rs.300, but Vedams seems to sell them for $25 USD.) You may want to find a good book store in Chennai, and see if they will ship them to you. Madras has a street (I believe) with some amazing booksellers. Can’t remember the name of the area.

And now for the reading list. I am not sure what you mean by “contemporary events”. Do you mean like the last 25 years? In my opinion the most interesting books are about the late colonial period. Lots of interesting books on “identity formation”. For example a good scholarly (but accessible) book is Politics and Social Conflict in South India by Eugene Irschick. I recommend it. Although the books is about caste politics in 1920s Tamil Nadu, the issues it covers are relevant to all of India. Topics covered are Brahmin vs Non-Brahmin struggle for power. Reservations in government jobs. The rise of regional parties. Issues as relevant to Tamil Nadu of the 1920s as they are to all of India today.

Here is one I haven’t read (but eventually plan to) Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891–1970. The language issue is “peculiarly” Tamil : )) Got to admire their tenacity, about a year ago they finally got Tamil declared a classical language by the Government of India the only other language so recognized other than Sanskrit.

It is even harder to find book related to Andhra Pradesh. The few that are written are solely related to the coastal Andhra Pradesh administered by the English or the books are about Hyderbad. Two good books although probably impossible to find are a “The Days of the Beloved” about aristocracy and court culture during the early 1900s. And “The Nocturnal Court” (aka Darbaar-e-Durbaar) by Sidq Jaisi about the sons of the last King. Their day proceeded as follows – Wake up at 4:00pm – Alcohol – Drugs – Orgies – Urdu poetry -- Orgies – Alcohol. Not a bad life really.

Ok, I’ll stop this post now. Getting too discursive. Sorry most of recommendations are more Social histories than anything else. I am not sure if this is what you are looking for.

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upcoming books on the reading list:
A Remembered Village by M.N. Srinivas
Identity Politics in 19th Century Telugu-Speaking India by Michael Katten

Hyderabadi

Days of the Beloved and another book by the same author/s, My Dear Nawab Saheb are both published by Orient Longman Ltd., India:

http://www.orientlongman.com/display...=0-86131-826-9

http://www.orientlongman.com/display...=0-86311-168-8

Haven't read 'The Nocturnal Court'...

phobal

Also just go to the nearest university library and go to their info resources counter, and they'll teach you how to find good articles within their intranet.

gentoo

Thanks for the link Hyderabadi! Days Of The Beloved is listed for Rs. 250 ($6 USD). And Amazon’s price for a new copy is $20 USD! Forget importing knick knacks and handicrafts from India, I think people are better off smuggling books.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like Orient Longman, ships internationally. I have a question. America for whatever reason provides a very generous concession if you want to ship books internationally. It’s called the “m-bag” system. All you have to do is box up your books a minimum of 11 pounds and a maximum of 66 pounds per m-bag. You can ship as many m-bags as you want. Then you take the boxes to the post office and they enclose it in an m-bag (canvas bag). To ship to India it’s $11 for the first 11 pounds and $1.05 for each additional pound. Which is a real bargain as far as international shipping rates are concerned. (Does anyone know the reason for USPS’s generosity? I know the rate above that I quoted is for 4-6 week delivery option, but it’s still really cheap.)

I was wondering if India has something similar to the m-bag system?