Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked tirelessly to remake India according to his vision: business friendly, technologically advanced and, above all, Hindu majoritarian. In the meantime, opposition forces have proclaimed many aspects of this agenda to be antithetical to the founding ideals of the country. As India stands poised to become one of the foremost global powers in the twenty-first century (complete with an immense economy and military), how this identity crisis plays out will have widespread repercussions both at home and abroad.

In this book, historian Manu Bhagavan traces the trajectory of modern India from its emergence out of colonial control to its current affairs. Newly independent India embraced democracy and cosmopolitanism as it struggled to overcome huge challenges. While various economic and foreign policy setbacks ultimately helped hollow out high aspirations and opened the door to authoritarian impulses, globalization also led to an assertive and aspiring urban middle class that helped turbocharge growth. With vivid prose and compelling storytelling, Bhagavan explains India's rise over the last century – providing an essential introduction to the subcontinent and its past, present, and future.

Manu Bhagavan is a specialist on modern India, focusing on the twentieth-century late-colonial and post-colonial periods. He is Professor of History and Human Rights at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, the City University of New York (CUNY) and author of the critically acclaimed The Peacemakers: India and the Quest for One World.