Category Books

The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India »

Authors: Thomas Blom Hansen, Princeton Univ Pr
ISBN-13: 9780691006710, ISBN-10: 0691006717
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Date Published: March 1999
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Thomas Blom Hansen

Book Synopsis

"The Saffron Wave is an analytically incisive and insightful exploration of one of the most important social movements to have swept postcolonial India. The book is remarkable not only for the historical depth it lends to our understanding of Hindu nationalism but also for the insights it affords contemporary politics in India."--Akhil Gupta, Stanford University

"A brilliant book on Indian politics. . . . The Saffron Wave is essential reading for anyone interested in India or in democracy, politics, and social movements."--Peter van der Veer, University of Amsterdam

Judith M. Brown - History

Combining broad analysis with vivid local case studies, this book gives the reader profound insights into the turbulent world of contemporary Indian politics.

	Introduction. Hindu Nationalism and Democracy in India	3
1	Modernity, Nation, and Democracy in India	16
2	Imagining the Hindu Nation	60
3	Organizing the Hindu Nation	90
4	Democracy, Populism, and Governance in India in the 1980s	134
5	The Saffron Wave	154
6	Communal Identities at the Heart of the Nation	200
7	Hindu Nationalism, Democracy, and Globalization	218
	Notes	239
	Glossary	269
	Bibliography	273
	Index	289