The six shortlisted books this year provide creative insights into the history of India — its diversity, difference, heterogeneity, and the very idea of the nation state.
The selected books are: The Death Script: Dreams and Delusions in Naxal Country by Ashutosh Bhardwaj (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins Publishers); India’s First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-77 by Christophe Jaffrelot & Pratinav Anil (HarperCollins Publishers): Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism by Dinyar Patel (Harvard University Press); Gandhi in the Gallery: The Art of Disobedience by Sumathi Ramaswamy (Roli Books); The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict 1914-1921 by Radhika Singha (HarperCollins Publishers); Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi by Vinay Sitapati (Penguin Random House).