Series in India
Books in India
A Short History of India: From the Earliest Civilisations and Myriad Kingdoms, to Today's Economic Powerhouse
The world's largest democracy and second-most populous country, 21st-century India is a dynamic nation with a thrivting economy, made up of a variety of beliefs and peoples united under one flag. Ancient India was home to myriad kingdoms with boundaries that were ever changing while a variety of cultures and religions flourished over the millennia as the influence of foreign invaders and occupiers has come and gone. The country was under foreign rule from the early 1800s until independence in 1947. From the late 1980s, India opened itself to the outside world, encouraging economic reform and foreign investment, and is now courted by the world's leading economic and political powers. It is a major power with a burgeoning middle class, having made substantial strides in areas such as information technology. The availability of a large, skilled workforce makes it a popular choice for international companies looking to outsource work. It has launched a space program and boasts a massive film industry, its "Bollywood" films being amongst the most-watched in the world. Meanwhile, India still has major issues with poverty and illiteracy, and campaigns have been launched to alleviate these problems.
Bullocks, Grain, and Good Madeira: The Maratha and Jat Campaigns, 1803-1806 and the Emergence of an Indian Arm
On the last day of the year 1802, the Maratha Peshwa Bajirao II signed the treaty of Bassein which sparked the 2nd Anglo-Maratha War. What began as a seemingly straightforward operation to restore the Peshwa and complete Lord Wellesley’s expansionist policy turned into a full-scale conflict for political hegemony which spread across central and northern India and was to establish the East India Company as the foremost power in South Asia. In military terms it saw a little-known general named Arthur Wellesley come to prominence and it also established the supremacy of the EIC’s Native Army over the regular armies of the ‘country powers.’ It was during these testing campaigns that Europeans began to view what was already being called the ‘Indian Army’ with respect. Despite a series of crushing defeats, the Marathas stunned their enemies with their bravery and professionalism, exacting a heavy toll on the British despite great handicaps in command and control. Although successful, the conclusion of the war was much less glorious than the biographies of the future Duke of Wellington care to admit. Few conflicts from this time convey in such detail the challenges faced by field commanders conducting operations in India and fewer books continue the story of the 2nd Maratha War to its ultimate conclusion in the Punjab where the last Maratha prince surrendered, this after the British ‘siege lords’ under Gerard Lake had been humbled before the mighty mud walls of the impregnable Jat fortress of Bharatpur.
Dancing With Cupid
Defrocked Hindu love god seeks amnesiac runaway bride Kamadeva, Hindu god of lusty love, has searched among the women of the world for his long lost wife, Rathi. Rathi has reincarnated so many times, she remembers nothing of her past. She’s now a law partner at a major civil rights firm. Kamadeva works at the same law firm – in the mailroom – hiding from the god Shiva, who once incinerated him in a moment of anger. She can’t find her love button with both hands. He’s still the happy-go-lucky idiot she left. Can Kama revive Rathi's goddess memories and win back her love before Shiva burns him up again? Will Rathi still want to dance with her underachiever cupid? _______________________________________________ "I loved the writing, loved the premise, and loved the story." —Sonali Dev, award-winning author of A Bollywood Affair "Dancing with Cupid is a fanciful comedy, light and fluffy fun, a good beach read. If you like light, fun romance, you'll enjoy Jennifer Stevenson's Slacker Demon series." — Lois Gresh, bestselling author of Nightfall "This is fabulous! I'm not into hot stuff but this is close to brilliant, holding my attention with just the right amount of graphics with great emotion." — Patricia Rice, bestselling author of Evil Genius "Jennifer Stevenson is the mistress of magic, combining voudou, music, and the call of true love in a unique melange. Stevenson makes the ancient seem new again, the ordinary seem exotic, and the otherworldly more real than we ever dreamed it could be. Bravo!” — Mindy Klasky, USA Today bestselling author of the Jane Madison Series.
If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home
A classic from the New York Times bestselling author of The Things They Carried "One of the best, most disturbing, and most powerful books about the shame that was / is Vietnam." — Minneapolis Star and Tribune Before writing his award-winning Going After Cacciato , Tim O'Brien gave us this intensely personal account of his year as a foot soldier in Vietnam. The author takes us with him to experience combat from behind an infantryman's rifle, to walk the minefields of My Lai, to crawl into the ghostly tunnels, and to explore the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war gone terribly wrong. Beautifully written and searingly heartfelt, If I Die in a Combat Zone is a masterwork of its genre. Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content.
Survival in Auschwitz
The true and harrowing account of Primo Levi’s experience at the German concentration camp of Auschwitz and his miraculous survival; hailed by The Times Literary Supplement as a “true work of art, this edition includes an exclusive conversation between the author and Philip Roth. In 1943, Primo Levi, a twenty-five-year-old chemist and “Italian citizen of Jewish race,” was arrested by Italian fascists and deported from his native Turin to Auschwitz. Survival in Auschwitz is Levi’s classic account of his ten months in the German death camp, a harrowing story of systematic cruelty and miraculous endurance. Remarkable for its simplicity, restraint, compassion, and even wit, Survival in Auschwitz remains a lasting testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit. Included in this new edition is an illuminating conversation between Philip Roth and Primo Levi never before published in book form.
Their Infantry and Guns Will Astonish You: The Army of Hindustan and European Mercenaries in Maratha service 1780-1803
By the middle of the eighteenth century, the Mughal Empire in India was in serious decline. The rulers of the various breakaway successor states faced a major military problem. Their armies were being effortlessly scattered by much smaller forces of European led and trained troops. Their immediate answer was to buy in specialist help in the form of European mercenaries to train their own troops in the methods of the victorious British and French. This led to a number of so called ‘Trained Brigades’ of regular eighteenth century infantry and formidable artillery being added to the armies of many of the Indian Princes. This book details to most successful of these formations, the Army of Hindustan in the service of the Maratha Prince Madhaji Scindia and his successor Daulat Rao. From an initial force of two battalion raised in 1784 by the Savoyard mercenary Benoit de Boigne, the Army of Hindustan would eventually number over 30,000 men and almost 200 guns. It would be commanded by Europeans of many nationalities including English, Scottish, French, Irish, Italian, German, and Dutch officers. This formidable force’s almost unbroken run of victories would only be broken by the Second Maratha War where the future Duke of Wellington would fight what he always considered the hardest battle of his career against a small portion of the Army of Hindustan.