History of Ancient and Early Medeival India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century

This is the most comprehensive and well written book on Ancient and Medieval Indian History that I have seen. Starting from the Stone Age and going up to the 12th century this is an excellent reference book, both for the student as well as for the general public. Well illustrated with color maps, photographs and figures, the book is printed and bound beautifully. Regarding the organization of the chapters let me quote from the book: "Each chapter constitutes a chronological unit within a larger framework, providing a comprehensive overview of historical issues and details, and constructing profiles of the various geographical regions in the sub continent. The chapter outline provides a view of the broad organization of the chapter. An opening story from a variety of sources serves as an engaging start for the chapter and also presents a strand from the rich thematic core of the chapter's discussion." I can't put it any better, but can only confirm it is not at all an exaggeration and each chapter looks like an art of work! The links to the early Indian literature, the tools, coins, inscriptions and other archeological evidence, external sources, later scientific interpretations of the evidence, and new directions of research are so well covered in each chapter than one cannot ask for anything more. The book is expensive (Rs.3,500 in India and over $120 in U.S) but well worth it for the serious student of Indian History. I was also told that the author is the daughter of the India's prime minister, Mr.Manmohan Singh. I have not cross checked that, but anyway all Indians can be proud of Upinder Singh's contribution.

Very well researched and well written. Indian history text always have a underlying agenda to push. In this book there is a slight liberal leaning style but no agenda is forced into the material and helps make your own opinion based on both literary and archaeological evidence. Very ambitious book and requires a lot of time for active reading

This is basically a textbook, and needs to be compared to other textbooks. On that scale it comes out very well indeed.One common problem with textbooks is that the writers get nervous about potential criticism from other experts. In that state of mind, writers start qualifying their statements to the point that the presentation gets very muddy. Upinder Singh's writing, on the other hand, is clear as a bell. Any halfway interested reader will not be put off by her prose but drawn in. Given the difficulties of writing about ancient India, this is a remarkable achievement.

This comprehensive book covers many topics over a very long time span in a fair amount of detail. Topics covered include language, religion, ancient texts, writing scripts, archaeological sites, food production, and more. This work provides detail about a topic in the context of the time and place, thereby providing a sense of how it came about and who the people were. If you are interested in India from the macro perspective, this book is for you. It is a beautiful book, well written, with an incredible amount of information.

Great book and great service.

Though some sections are not enough worked, it is one of the most useful handbooks I have found until now.

Mi è piaciuto tutto

Outer view - The cover page is beautiful, the binding and study ness is excellent inner view- page colors are vibrant and smooth with good saturation; page quality is a bit thin your highlighter will get through page if u used it on one spot twice. content of book - book is very comprehensive, I forgot for a moment that i am reading it for CSE, its immersive with detailed view of some topics and also opinions of different authors, cons: - while the book is informative i found it hard to read about same topic on different pages meaning; social, political archeological dimensions are written of different pages which makes it difficult to complete one topic thoroughly. - There should have been more information on historiography and also addition of new discoveries in Indus valley civilization, history of archaeological site in southern India is not adequately covered. - the size of book makes it difficult to carry or store, book is a bit tall, it could have been thick instead of taller. - maps are colorful but not that detailed in terms of CSE history optional point of view - history after 800ce is not adequate - no space at top and base of pages: there should have been more space on header and footer are so that anyone can write points or notes verdict: go for it, you won't find more comprehensive book on medieval India, but supplement it with other books for map and other topics, make a note only after going throw the whole book as topics are written on different pages sometimes. thank you Upinder singh mam

Very good - India or south Asia history book. If you learning or studying south Asia or India history, you must have it.

Il libro è ben fatto, forse un po' scolastico ma prorio per questo chiaro nei contenuti, corredato con belle immagini a completamento delle informazioni scritte.