"An original and powerful analysis of the emergence of anticolonial nationalism and the postcolonial state. . . . This is not merely a book on nationalism in India with some 'comparative' implications. Instead, it presents the historical case of colonial nationalism to challenge the Eurocentricity of certain basic categories--the nations-state, modernity, and indeed history itself."--Gyan Prakash, Princeton University

One of the leading members of the well-known Subaltern Studies collective of scholars, Partha Chatterjee is Professor of Political Science at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Calcutta. His other works include Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World (Zed/Minnesota).