Midnight's Descendants ― A History of South Asia Since Partition

Dispersed across India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, Midnight’s Descendants?the generations born since the 1947 ?midnight hour partition” of British India?are the world’s fastest growing population. In Midnight’s Descendants, celebrated historian John Keay presents the first general history of this enormous region and its peoples. Focusing on the complex web of affiliations among all five of British India’s successor states, Keay charts South Asia’s fraught path toward modernization and democratization over the past sixty years. Along the way, he unravels the volatile India-Pakistan relationship; the rise of religious fundamentalism; the wars that raged in Kashmir and Sri Lanka; and the fortunes of millions of South Asia migrants dispersed throughout the world.

An expansive and dramatic narrative of South Asia’s recent history, Midnight’s Descendants leads readers from the aftermath of the 1947 partition to the region’s present-day efforts to transcend its turbulent past and assume its rightful role in global politics.

John Keay is the author of several acclaimed books, including China: A History, The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest Was Named, and the bestselling India: A History. He was formerly a special correspondent for the Economist, and contributes regularly to the Sunday Telegraph, Times Higher Educational Supplement, and the Literary Review.