India And The Cold War Edited By Manu Bhagavan

‘This is a book that enlightens and explains. It is a gripping story of independent India’s historic coming into the modern world’ Nirupama Rao, former foreign secretary and Indian ambassador to China and the United States

‘Given India’s rapidly growing importance on the international stage, there is obvious need to understand the historical origins of its worldview, the goals that have driven its actions, and its sense of constraints and opportunities. This work fulfills that need, presented accessibly and with close attention to craft and detail’ Sunil Khilnani, King’s India Institute, London

Contributors draw on a wide array of new material, from recently opened archival sources to literature and film, and meld approaches from diplomatic history to development studies to explain the choices India made and to frame the decisions by its policymakers. Together, the essays demonstrate how India became a powerful symbol of decolonization and an advocate of non-alignment, disarmament and global governance as it stood between the United States and the Soviet Union, actively fostering dialogue and attempting to forge friendships without entering into formal alliances. Sweeping in its scope yet nuanced in its analysis, this is the authoritative account of India and the Cold War.

Hardback | Rs 599/- | 280 pp
Penguin Random House India