Edited by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya

A Comprehensive History of Modern Bengal: 1700-1950 edited by the late Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, an institution in his own right, covers a formidable range of themes. The articles contained in these volumes deal with a diverse array of issues. They deal with, among others, ecology, economy, science, military history, environment, politics, society, social movements, labour, class formation, culture in its multidimensional forms encompassing literature, theatre and art, though an article on the evolution of cinema in Modern Bengal is strangely absent.


Reviewed by: Sabyasachi Dasgupta and Bidisha Dhar
Ravi Agarwal, Omita Goyal

Our understanding of climate change has not advanced after the recent climate negotiations, the CoP26, November 2021 in Glasgow. Climate change, being the most complex and lasting of the series of environmental challenges that humanity and the planet have faced over the past two and half centuries, has no easy solution.


Reviewed by: Rajeswari S Raina
Yatindra Singh Sisodia and Tapas Kumar Dalapati

As India inches close to 75th anniversary of Independence, self-introspection about hurdles it has to overcome in policy and implementation domain needs to be debated. The book under review brings together fourteen well-researched papers based on field-level experiences of States across the country, interrogating critical dimensions of rural human development in contemporary India that need attention for percolation of developmental benefits to every corner of India.


Reviewed by: Pratip Chattopadhyay
Madhusudan Datta

The Indian growth story attracted global attention first, on account of the spurt in growth from the 1990s, and second, on account of its deviation from one of the most widely replicated patterns of the evolution of sectoral shares of agriculture, manufacturing and services in the gross domestic product (GDP) over time.  This thumb rule, stylized by Kuznets, Chenery and Taylor (KCT), was found to closely fit the evidence gathered from advanced countries and also developing ones outside the socialist bloc, over two whole centuries.


Reviewed by: Alok Sheel and Vrinda Saxena
Ghazala Jamil

The three books under review critically contribute to our understanding of Gender, Inclusion, Violence and Social Justice. They capture several evidences of gender inequality, violence and exclusion across all levels; but they also show how gender issues in India can be read through different lenses of justice; how scholars, advocates and activists addressing these issues have brought different dimensions to the table, even conflicting at times.  


Reviewed by: Juanita Kakoty
Achla Pritam Tandon, Gopi Devdutt Tripathy and Rashi Bhargava

Social Scientist in South Asia: Personal Narratives, Social Forces and Negotiations is an important recent publication from Routledge. Along with an Introduction, the book comprises a collection of nineteen essays, divided into two parts. Part I, themed ‘Engagement with Disciplinary Prisms: Expanding Horizons’ has essays by Imrana Qadeer, Ghazala Jamil, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Savyasaachi, Maitrayee Choudhury, SS Sivakumar, Gargi Chakravarty, N Sukumar and Sukrita Paul Kumar. Part II, themed ‘Reflections on Disciplinary Practices: Pedagogy and Research’ has essays by Chandan Kumar Sarma, Manosh Chowdhury, Mohammad Talib, Nirmal Kumar, Kavita A Sharma, Nirmal Kirmani, Shonaleeka Kaul and Vinay Kumar Srivastava.


Reviewed by: Manjeet Baruah