India is a story of hope and despair, darkness and light, chaos and glory. Ramachandra Guha tells the story of modern India, its creation and its progress with a well researched elegance. The story of India has always been a captivating one, but Guha gives it fresh insight by the sheer volume of details he provides, not just on India's longest serving prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, but also about the lesser known and marginalized people of India – the peasants, workers and tribals. The compelling book focuses on the conflicts as well as the triumphs that India has seen since its inception. The bloodshed of the Partition, the humiliating defeat against the Chinese, the miracle of the Indian elections, the dark days of Emergency, the triumph of the Bangladesh liberation are all chronicled in detail in this book.