Compiled and edited by Sumit Ganguly and Neil DeVotta, Understanding Contemporary India presents modern-day Indian life, culture, social issues, and political challenges to readers of all backgrounds. From a brief overview of Indian history, politics, economy, the role and status of women, population pressures, religion, the arts, and more, Understanding Contemporary India is a keenly insightful, nicely organized, and superbly presented work which is strongly recommended and accessible reading for travelers, businesspeople, and policy makers wanting a useful and "reader friendly" overview of present day India.

Easily the most detailed and well organized treatise on this unfortunate conflict. While on one hand it establishes the nefarious designs of the Pakistani establishment, it also exposes Indoor Gandhi's chicanery in subverting the will of the Kashmir electorate via crass political subterfuge (e.g. transfer of Governorship to her puppet, a certain Jagmohan Malhotra). One of Dr. Ganguly's proposals, granting autonomy, is a dangerous one; this could lead to similar demands from the other disturbed states. It is critical that we listen carefully to the demands of the disenfranchised and work to mitigate decades worth of pain. The 1965 conflict deserves a more thorough coverage though.

It made me think of the future of those two countries and what we can do. It may not have the same effect on everyone if you don't originate from Pakistan or India but, I recommend this book to anyone who doen't know of the bloodshed in Kashmir and even if you do, it's a great book to read.

The problems involving Pakistan, India and the people of Kashmir are complex and over time have become more and more volatile. To understand the history of this area and why it poses such a threat is not easy for someone who has only recently decided to learn more than what is provided on television or in the newspaper. Sumit Ganguly's book presents a thorough history. I have searched several sources both online and in other books and haven't found anything elsewhere that is not in this book. Ganguly offers more than one solution to the problem but it seems that no one is really interested in listening right now.

Sumit Ganguly offers an invaluable primer on the roots, history, and possible future of current tensions between India and Pakistan. Along the way he successfully challenges one fundamental myth that this conflict would not have occurred if there wasn't a dispute over Jammu and Kashmir. Ganguly notes that the seeds of the conflict go back centuries, even before the arrival of the British, due to bloody wars between predominantly Muslim and Hindu states on the Indian subcontinent. Yet he does bear the British Raj some responsibility, for promoting Muslim interests at the expense of other religious communities during the 19th Century. He strongly criticizes India for its complacency in its relations with Pakistan, forgoing possible opportunities to establish a long-lasting peace. He suggests that a peaceful resolution will be attained when both parties agree to the ceasefire line - or Line of Control - as the border in Kashmir and India offers the Kashmiris more political autonomy. Although this book may be a bit slim with regards to substance, it does an admirable job covering every facet of Indian-Pakistani relations. Without question it is essential reading for anyone interested in this ongoing crisis.

Ganguly provides a valuable service with this book, an accessible, easy to read historical account and observation of India-Pakistan relations, in the context of their frequent wars and crises since 1947. Credit goes to Ganguly for making a no-nonsense call on the source of most of the intransigence and crisis, Pakistan. The reasons are numerous and different depending on the crisis at hand, and the discussions extensive (yet easy to follow), but Ganguly lays most of the blame for the ongoing problems between India and Pakistan at Pakistan's feet, more specifically at the feet of its arrogant, immature, and impetuous armed forces. India certainly is not without blame both for creating and exacerbating tension with Pakistan, and Ganguly highlights this when required.

This is an excellent primer on India-Pakistan relations, tensions, and warfare since their mutual 1947 independence. Ganguly discusses (by chapter) the 1947 war of independence/Partition (The First Kashmir War), the 1965 Second Kashmir War, the 1971Bangladesh War, and the Kargil Crisis/War of 1999. He includes two very useful chapters on the seemingly unending relationship of crisis between India and Pakistan and the recently public nuclear dimension of the relationship. This 2001 edition concludes shortly after 9/11/01 and its unfolding consequences, with some short personal observations and minor assessment from Ganguly, but does not benefit from a detailed analytical exploration of how the 9/11 attacks and their international political aftermath will affect the India-Pakistan situation.

The presentation of this extremely complex relationship is straightforward and simple, at least as simple as it can be presented and still retain the key aspects of the history. Ganguly's narrative proceeds quickly, is easy to read and follow, and only briefly (in the introduction mainly) does he stray into dogmatic academic language. His simplification and logical, flowing delivery of this complex subject is a major accomplishment in itself. This is not to say that this is a dumbed-down history of India-Pakistan relations, not in the least. His abundant citations illustrate his depth of knowledge on this subject, and serve as ample sources of information and reference for those who wish to pursue individual issues further.

Throughout the book Ganguly makes a logical and very clear argument that almost all of the bases for Pakistan's continued intransigence on Jammu and Kashmir, hence virtually all of the reasons for Indian and Pakistani animosity have ceased to exist. Pakistan's assumed mandate of foundation, as a homeland for South Asian Islam, has lost its legitimacy through the various crises in Jammu and Kashmir and their outcomes, and due to the "loss" of Bangladesh in 1971. Sadly, the outlook for tension between the two is not good, as Pakistan has come to rely increasingly on Muslim nationalism and its attendant creeping fundamentalism in order to bolster its essentially hollow claims to Jammu and Kashmir.

The extremely useful citations are in the form of chapter end notes, and reflect Ganguly's total familiarity with all major, minor, and related India-Pakistan issues. This does require some distractive page-turning to get to the specific citation or additional point of fact as you read, but the end notes serve to maintain the smooth, flowing narrative. Especially useful in this book are the appendices, a collection of nine essential documents from the history of India-Pakistan relations, including the 1947 letter of accession of Jammu and Kashmir, the 1972 Simla Agreement, and the 1999 Lahore Declaration. These documents are crucial to understanding the more esoteric aspects of this enduring conflict, are cited frequently throughout the book, and the inclusion of them as appendices is very thoughtful. The 14-page index is thorough and references almost all persons, places, events, issues, and concepts mentioned in the narrative. The index does not include reference to any of the citations, requiring a thorough (and tedious) reading of them to derive maximum research benefit.

This is an excellent introductory study for any serious student of South Asian relations and foreign policy. As such, I recommend this book for high school AP and college-level introductory South Asian/World Politics courses. Its easy narrative and fast pace allow for quick absorption and general understanding without a weight of detail and context. Not to say context and details are unimportant, Ganguly offers his copious citations for anyone interested in pursuing individual issues and opinions in depth. For any casual reader on international affairs, this is a valuable introduction to the history behind and general current state of play in what is arguably the world's most dangerous flashpoint.

A very good potrayal of the Kashmir problem. The book does away with all political correctedness of assuming a false position of neutrality on all issues between the two neighboring countries, India and Pakistan, and reports factually, and as accurately as possible. I barely understood the problem before reading this book.