Description: 5,000 years of history--from the Bhagavad Gita to Bollywood--fill this masterful portrait of the world's most populous nation and a rising global power.
India--a cradle of civilization with five millennia of history, a country of immense consequence and contradiction--often defies ready understanding. What holds its people together--across its many cultures, races, languages, and creeds--and how has India evolved into the liberal democracy it is today? From the Harappan era to Muslim invasions, the Great Mughals, British rule, independence, and present-day hopes, John Zubrzycki distills India's colossal history into a gripping true story filled with legendary lives: Alexander the Great, Akbar, Robert Clive, Tipu Sultan, Lakshmi Bai, Lord Curzon, Jinnah, and Gandhi. India's gifts to the world include Buddhism, yoga, the concept of zero, the largest global diaspora--and its influence is only growing. Already the world's largest democracy, in 2023, India became the most populous nation. Can India overcome its political, social, and religious tensions to be the next global superpower? As the world watches--and wonders--this Shortest History is an essential, clarifying must-listen.Brief description: British-born Julian Elfer is an award-winning New York City-based actor and audiobook narrator with over 100 titles to his credit. Hailed by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal for his lead performance in the Mint Theatre Company's A Day by the Sea, Julian brings a unique facility for characterization in fiction and an empathy for the personalities and events of the past.