An incisive distillation of India's uniquely diverse history, from the the early Indus Valley to today with India as the world's largest democracy. The book places emphasis on individuals, ideas and cultures rather than on the rise and fall of kingdoms, political parties and economies. Anyone curious about a great civilization, and its future, will find this an ideal introduction, at times controversial, written by an author who has been intimately engaged with the subcontinent for almost four decades.