Scroll’s September 6, 2025 roundup names six books about modern India, spanning urban change, prison life, public health, women’s lives, Assamese language and queer history. The article’s six entries range from personal archives and biography to histories of institutions and colonial power.
Six books, six lenses on modern India
The roundup says its information comes from publishers. It introduces the books without ranking them or judging their quality, so the most useful way to choose is by subject and historical lens.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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A CHILDREN'S HISTORY OF INDIA (PB) | $17.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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India: A History. Revised and Updated | $12.15 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Living in . . . India: Ready-to-Read Level 2 | $4.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner) | $9.08 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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India (Eyewitness Books) | $6.51 | Buy on Amazon |
| Book | Author and translation | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| Sheher Mein Gaon: Culture, Conflict and Change in the Urban Villages of Delhi | Ekta Chauhan | Urban villages, land acquisition and changing community life in Delhi |
| Unsilenced: The Jail Diary of an Activist | Seema Azad; translated from Hindi by Shailza Sharma | Prison life, women prisoners and an activist’s legal struggle |
| Vaccine Nation: How Immunization Shaped India | Ameer Shahul | India’s vaccination history and its public-health role |
| A Woman of No Consequence: Memory, Letters and Resistance in Madras | Kalpana Karunakaran | A family archive and the life of Pankajam amid social and political change |
| Being Modern: A Biography of Ananda Ram Dhekial Phookan | Gunabhiram Barua; translated from Assamese by Banani Chakravarty | Assamese language advocacy and Assam’s colonial transition |
| Forbidden Desire: How the British Stole India’s Queer Pasts and Queer Futures | Sindhu Rajasekaran | Sexuality, colonialism and histories of gender and sexual minorities |
Urban change and contested identity in Delhi
Sheher Mein Gaon — Ekta Chauhan
Chauhan focuses on Delhi’s urban villages, where state land acquisition and city expansion have reshaped older settlements. The book considers how long-standing traditions coexist with new businesses, and approaches these places through questions of identity, power, memory, resistance and reinvention. It is a fit for readers interested in the lived experience behind urban development rather than the city’s growth viewed only through infrastructure or policy.
Prison life through an activist’s diary
Unsilenced — Seema Azad, translated by Shailza Sharma
This memoir is based on Azad’s jail diary and describes incarceration at Naini Central Jail, including prison conditions, hierarchies and the stories of women prisoners. It also follows her legal struggle. Scroll’s account says Azad and her partner were arrested in February 2010 and that she spent two and a half years incarcerated; those details are the roundup’s account, rather than independently documented figures in the article.
#1 Best Overall
Vaccination as a history of institutions and public health
Vaccine Nation — Ameer Shahul
Shahul’s account begins with Waldemar Haffkine’s arrival in Calcutta in 1893, then traces the development of Indian vaccine institutions and vaccination after Independence. The book connects this history to a contemporary question: whether India can sustain an international public-health role amid geopolitical pressure, pandemic fatigue and privatization.
Scroll’s roundup says India vaccinates “over a billion people” and supplies affordable vaccines to most Global South nations. The article does not identify an original statistical source for that statement, so it is best treated as a claim reported by Scroll, not as an independently verified measure.
Rank #2
A grandmother’s papers and a changing Madras
A Woman of No Consequence — Kalpana Karunakaran
Karunakaran builds a portrait of her maternal grandmother, Pankajam (1911–2007), from letters, semi-autobiographical stories and an autobiography begun in 1949 and continued through 1995. The account links private life and intellectual development with Tamil Brahmin orthodoxy and the early nation. Its family archive offers a way into larger histories through the materials and experiences of one woman.
Assamese language and a colonial-era life
Being Modern — Gunabhiram Barua, translated by Banani Chakravarty
The biography follows Ananda Ram Dhekial Phookan (1829–1859), including his advocacy for Assamese as an official and court language. Barua combines Phookan’s life story with an account of Assam’s colonial transition. Scroll describes it as the first modern biography in Assamese; the roundup does not elaborate on how it defines “modern biography.”
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Colonialism and queer history
Forbidden Desire — Sindhu Rajasekaran
Rajasekaran examines sexuality and colonialism in India, drawing on histories of gender and sexual minorities and the colonial effort to criminalize non-heteronormative expression. Its scope joins queer histories of the past to questions about India’s possible futures, as signalled by the book’s subtitle.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Choosing a starting point
- For urbanization and community identity, start with Sheher Mein Gaon.
- For incarceration and women’s prison experiences, choose Unsilenced.
- For the history and politics of immunization, choose Vaccine Nation.
- For women’s lives, family archives and social orthodoxy, choose A Woman of No Consequence.
- For Assamese language and colonial-era biography, choose Being Modern.
- For sexuality, colonial rule and queer histories, choose Forbidden Desire.
These distinctions reflect the subjects described in Scroll’s roundup, not comparative judgments about the books. The article supplies no review scores, edition details, prices or current retailer availability.
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Rank #4
Read Scroll’s September 6, 2025 roundup.
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