Review by Choice Review
Chatterji's well-documented study should become one of the most significant recently published works on Indian history. Chatterji discusses the Bengali elite's shift in focus, in the last 15 years of British rule, from national interests to local, provincial concerns. According to the author, this reorientation of bhadralok concerns was stimulated by enlargement of the franchise, reservation of seats for depressed castes, and a consequent fear on the part of Bengali Hindus that they were about to lose their accustomed position of dominance in Bengali politics. Fearing eventual Muslim control of the Bengal body politic, Bengali Hindus developed a communal perspective and began to campaign for partition of the province. The Bengali Hindu position meshed after WW II with developing perceptions among leaders of the National Congress Party of India. Consequently, Chatterji argues that in Bengal, Hindus evolved a parallel separation movement to that of the Muslim League and that the call for partition of the subcontinent was not solely a Muslim phenomenon. This thoughtful and original interpretation should be in all libraries supporting South Asia studies. Upper-division undergraduates and above. D. L. White; Appalachian State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
