A History of India

Super! Professor Fisher did a fantastic job putting these together.

Predictably, A History of India is an ambitious attempt to condense the vast and intricate history of the Indian subcontinent into a single volume. Expectedly, it falls short. For a topic so expansive, no single book or course could ever do justice. This is especially true for readers who are already well-acquainted with the subject, as this reviewer happens to be. For such readers, there was never going to be much scope for surprises at the broader topic level—after all, entire libraries could be built on any one of the themes or periods discussed in this book. The real interest in listening to the lectures lies in understanding what someone unfamiliar with the subject might glean from them and similar works. In this regard, the course does provide a useful summary or “gist” of India’s historical trajectory, offering a starting point for those who wish to learn about the subcontinent's rich and diverse past. The book covers major themes like India’s religious plurality, colonialism, and post-independence developments in a way that is accessible to newcomers. That said, the vast scope means that many topics are touched upon only briefly, often without the depth or nuance they deserve. In some ways, the book becomes an anthology of key historical periods and figures. There is little room for exploration of various perspectives, let alone engagement with contentious topics. Overall, a decent introductory resource at best.

I have had some experience with The Great Courses by The Teaching Company over the last ten or so years. I have had two DVD courses and several audio only ones. The majority of the course work fine in audio only with some exceptions like a course on the great works of art. I have not only learned a great deal from each course but have truly enjoyed them. A History of India was offered as a review copy from Recorded Books. India, as a country, a culture and a people, has long fascinated since I received a copy of The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye for my 16th birthday. I have not really had the opportunity to experience any non-fiction looks at India. A History of India was an excellent learning experience and achieved my goal of familiarizing myself with all of India, not just the historical fiction India. The course is taught by Michael H. Fisher, Ph.D., a professor of History at Oberlin College. Professor Fisher spent time living in India, with shorter periods in Pakistan and Bangladesh.He has a true love for the subject matter and it comes through in his lectures. Since this is an audio course, I would like to mention that the sound and production quality are excellent. Professor Fisher has a pleasant speaking voice. His pronunciations of foreign terms are clear and distinct so the listener can truly catch the word. When the same word comes up later, it is not an unknown term. He really does an excellent job. The course consists of thirty-six lessons of thirty minutes in audio format. Also included is a course guide in a pdf format. The course guide consists of a summary of each lecture, including some maps or photographs. The lecture summaries are rather more complete than normal summaries. Each lecture summary ends with a suggested reading list for those who want to explore more of the material covered in that lecture. What I really liked about the course was the completeness of the material covered. The first lecture, “Earliest History of the Indian Subcontinent” covers India’s geographic history. One of the things my children learned early in their education was that history occurs where it does for a reason. There were mountains that formed a barrier. There was a river that allowed a civilization to rise. There were weather conditions that changed the land and how it could be used. All of these are very important factors in why history happens where it does. The first lecture helps the listener understand how the geography of the Indian subcontinent shaped what was to come. The lectures continue with the migration of different peoples into the different areas of India. Literature and religion are not neglected but have several lectures dedicated to them. Each Indian empire is discussed. Lecture twenty-three begins the exploration of the influence of European Countries. The European conquest, rebellions and eventual Indian independence are covered next. The last two lectures examine the modernization of India beginning in the 1960’s and the 21st Century from the perspective of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the surrounding nations). It really is a complete course on the history of India. There are several ways to enjoy or utilize this course. The lectures can be listened to as time allows without reference to the course guide. The listener can read the lecture notes from the course guide and then listen to the accompanying lecture. This allows the listener to have familiarized themselves with the material similar to doing the required reading before a college class. The reader could also listen to the lectures and refer to the course guide only as they feel necessary. There is no wrong way to utilize the course. I took thirty days to complete the course. I listened to one lecture per day, two if time allowed. I did read over the course guide for each lecture before listening to the lecture. This method required an hour at the most of my time per lecture. I chose to do it in this manner to make sure that I had a full understanding of what I was hearing. I am planning on listening to the course again in a more informal manner, probably starting in April. I learned quite a bit. I highly recommend A History of India in audio format. While driving, working at home or the office, the listener could enjoy an educational field trip to a country, culture, and people unique in our world.

I think that India proved to be too vast and complicated for a single Great Courses Text. Fisher gives a good try starting in prehistory and going to the present day, but I always felt like he was jumping around and rarely making connections between his topics. The first sixteen lectures are a highlights reel of events before the sixteenth century. Then he slows down a little, but I still felt like we were leapfrogging through history trying to cover just a smattering of events in the last five hundred years. The best part of the course focused on the twentieth century—especially when Fisher looks at India and Pakistan after they win their freedom from Britain. If nothing else, Fisher shows just how complex the subcontinent and its peoples truly are.

The CD box set “History of India” from “The Great Courses” by Professor Michael H. Fisher is a must-have for anyone wanting to learn about the history of India, as well as, to a lesser extent, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The DVD series consists of 36 lectures beginning with the early history of India up to the twenty-first century. Topics discussed in this course include the early history of the Indian Subcontinent, the migration of the Adivasi (the aboriginal tribal peoples who are believed to have been the original inhabitants of India, but whose status is, ironically, unrecognized by the Indian government), the Indus Valley civilization, Indo-European Vedic culture, the caste system, the two great epic poems of India the Mahabharata (which recounts a famous war which occurred between two sides of the same royal family for control of India and which, it should be noted, as mentioned by the historian Michael Wood, in the excellent PBS documentary, "The Story of India," was proven to have been a historical event after archaeologists found evidence that a battle did indeed take place near Kurukshetra (just outside of Hastinapur) in 836 BCE), the Ramayana (the other great epic poem chronicling the life of the Hindu god Rama and his attempts to rescue his wife Sita from Ravana, the king of the demons; Historically, however, what Professor Fisher does not realize is that according to the short 40-minute documentary, "The Historical Rama," was, in fact, a real king, but since Maharishi Valmiki is---presumably---thought to have lived in the fourth century BCE since that was when the poem took its present form, both men would have been contemporaries of Alexander the Great), Dharma (Hindu religious duty) in the Bhagavad Gita (the dialogue within the Mahabharata between the warrior prince Arjuna and the Hindu god Krishna), the origins and rise of Jainism, the rise of Buddhism, the Maurya Empire, King Ashoka (the Maurya Empire’s most famous king), the culture of Northern and Southern India, the influence of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism (an ancient Iranian religion founded in the sixth century BCE by the prophet Zarathushtra/Zoroaster believed to have been the first monotheistic religion in recorded history), the Muslim sultans of Delhi, the rise of the Mughal Empire (another great Muslim empire who ruled much of South Asia from 1526-1864 CE), the competition between various European powers for control of India, the rise of the British East India Company, the consolidation of British rule over India and the rise of the British Raj, Indian nationalism, the life and thought of Gandhi, as well as Indian nationalists like Ambedkar and Bose, the rise of Muslim nationalism under Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the subsequent partitioning of India into India and Pakistan in 1947. Lectures 31-33 talk about how Pakistan and Bangladesh came to be. Lecture 34 talks about India under Jawharlal Nehru, and finally lectures 35 and 36 talk about contemporary India. One thing I found somewhat perplexing, however, is that in lecture 27, entitled "India and Indians in the World," he goes back to talk about pre-colonial India. This is not a bad thing; I just think that this particular talk, while extremely fascinating, should have been BEFORE the lecture discussing European colonialism. Despite this minor issue, the CD is nonetheless a must-have for anyone wishing to learn about the history and culture of India. I would highly recommend it.

I am a university professor and this series gets an A+....interesting, well balance, and thoughtful!!!!