South Asia in World History (New Oxford World History)

For a history of South Asia, it sure is missing a lot of key information

Good overview

South Asia in World History by Marc Jason Gilbert is an excellent read for South Asian and world history scholars alike. The strength of this work lies in the scholarship that underlies the narrative. All of the general claims are supported by evidentiary support rich in detail, which is the result of the author's lifetime of study about the region. Secondly, since the author is one of the founders of the contemporary world history movement, the experiences of South Asian peoples over a four thousand year period are placed in illuminating global context. For world history educators, this book is a treasure for at least two reasons. The first is that many of the core disciplinary understandings such as polycentrism and cross-regional connections are well illustrated by clear exemplars. In addition, the work looks at the region's past through the lenses of many of the important cognitive approaches to our discipline such as comparative history and the relationship of events over time and place.

This book quotes that South Asia is the modern home for 7 nations (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Myanmar) but has failed to give important details of the Sri Lanka (limiting only to few pages). Moreover the account regarding the Ethnic Conflict is also much biased and there is no recognition provided to the origin and culture of the Sinhala race or the indigenous people Veddahs of the country

Major focus of this book remains on India given its geographical size.This book provides a decent overview of South Asia, from ancient to modern times in a very lucid narrative form.There are some basic factual errors, though. At one place dates are switched which creates confusion. In last chapter, Narendra Modi's position of Chief Minister (of Gujarat) is termed as "governor".In one reference, Pakistan's Prime Minister (Asif Ali Zardari) is referred to as India's Prime Minister. I must mention it here that Asif Ali Zardari was the President and not PM.Above stated flaws aside, it is a must read. Book is structured in a manner which makes it more of a journey and accessible. It will keep you engaged and by the time you finish reading this book, you will have calibrated yourself with current state of South Asia.