Description: A historical analysis of a book-inspired controversy that in its dimensions rivalled Hernnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" and Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" and brought forth a new political collectivity in India's women.
Review Quotes: "Specters of Mother India delivers what one has come to expect of Mrinalini Sinha's work. The book is at once theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded. The monograph, in its introduction, five chapters, and epilogue, not only traverses many sub-fields within the discipline of history, but also comfortably deploys analytical tools from other disciplines, such as literary criticism and feminist theories. . . . In artfully quilting together multiple historical scenarios and actors, Sinha allows readers to appreciate the labour involved in practicing the historian's craft."--Sanjam Ahluwalia, Women's History Review
"[Sinha] considers women's collective agency in the early twentieth century [and] challenges what has become conventional historiographic wisdom. . . . Groundbreaking."--American Historical Review "Finally a scholar has successfully theorized the relationship of gender and nationalism that accommodates the historical specificities of women and twentieth century nationalism in India. With this example of transnational history, Sinha's Specters of Mother India has finally put to rest the claim of an earlier generation, who questioned the relevance of gender as a subject of South Asian studies."--Lisa Trivedi, , Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History "In Specters of Mother India, Mrinalini Sinha achieves an amazing feat: relating the publication of a single book to the 'global restructuring of an empire, ' arguing that this was actually a moment when Indian women articulated their demands as universal liberal citizens."--Jinee Lokaneeta, Signs "Sinha's important and wide-ranging book weaves together an account of major significance for the fields of gender history, global and imperial studies, and modern Indian history, as well as for current debates in historiography. . . . [T]his book newly illuminates the political rupture that marked the inter-war era, and in its analytical depth, clarity and complexity, it offers a real model for the writing of both gender and global histories."--Rachel Sturman, Gender & History "This is an extremely well-crafted and tightly argued book about the importance of situating events historically, examining the process of contingency, and following the different iterations and reception of a single event in a range of geographical, cultural, and political domains. A dense historical narrative substantiates ambitious and innovative theoretical claims, and that will make this book an important model of scholarship for years to come."--Durba Ghosh, Journal of British Studies