This book tells the story of South's Asia's twentieth century in eight chapters by Director of the Centre of South Asian Studies at Cambridge University - an undisputed authority on the subject.This book tells the story of South's Asia's twentieth century in eight chapters. Unlike standard narrative histories of the subcontinent that concentrate exclusively on politics, here nature, objects, technologies, cultures, and people's changing relationships to them and to each other, are central preoccupations.The structure of the book is unorthodox. Unusually for a work of this kind, it is thematic rather than chronological. Chapters address specific questions that might arise in the minds of a 'lay', but thoughtful, reader; but each chapter is chronological within itself, analysing change over a century in one particular sphere. This format allows the reader to explore particular issues - say, the changing character of nationalism, migration or consumption - over time and in depth.Shadows at Noon is a bold and innovative work that pushes back against standard narratives of 'inherent' differences between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The purpose of the book is to make contemporary South Asia intelligible, while sharing with the reader its infinite colour and excitement. The book does not 'talk down' to the reader or attempt, in facile ways, to simplify the history of a vast, and almost mythically intricate, society.
With clarity, wit and charm, Joya Chatterji tells the story of the subcontinent's recent history in a fluent sweeping arc ... Wide-angled and hugely ambitious, but also highly personal and pleasingly discursive, [it] is a book she has clearly enjoyed writing and, as a result, it is wonderfully enjoyable to read ... A wonderfully original, genre-defying work that is sure to be a classic William Dalrymple, Observer
Chatterji writes with infectious relish ... It's refreshing to read a history of modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh that rises above the usual national and chronological divisions, and that ends on a surprisingly upbeat note Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
Supremely readable ... Chatterji's scholarship and enthusiasm shine through. This account of South Asia surprises, moves and illuminates Rana Mitter, Financial Times
Definitive new 20th-century thematic history of the Indian subcontinent Financial Times
A provocative, pioneering work of political and social history… [an] invigorating book…nuanced and complex Times Literary Supplement
Original and revealing ... this is a book which both scholars and the wider public can dip into, enjoy and learn from Literary Review
A cheerful history of the subcontinent, by turns erudite, eclectic, analytical, gossipy and prolix History Today
A truly magnificent book about the history, politics and culture of 20th century South Asia ... A must read Mihir Bose, author of The Nine Waves
The story of South Asia told with verve, wit, and brilliance. This is a book that invents a genre: navigating effortlessly between the archives, conversations, memoir, newspapers, swooping out to make magisterial observations and zooming in to unearth nuggets of gossip. It is like riding a rollercoaster with a mesmerizing guide who can touch down on any part of South Asia that she chooses, before taking off again Anuradha Roy, author of All The Lives We Never Lived
A wonderful book concentrating for once on what the peoples of different South Asian countries have in common. That's something South Asians and all the rest of us should now concentrate on Sir Mark Tully
Joya Chatterji is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Emeritus Professor of South Asian History at the University of Cambridge and sometime Reader in International History at the London School of Economics. From 2010 to 2021, she was first Editor then Editor-in-Chief of Modern Asian Studies, a leading scholarly journal in the field. Between 2014 and her retirement in 2019, she was Director of the Centre of South Asian Studies at Cambridge. She was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2018.
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