Modern India

William Eleroy CurtisProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 843K words
Chapters: 85

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Modern India by William Eleroy CurtisAuthor: Curtis, William Eleroy, 1850-1911,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Feb 1, 2004

Editor's review

Modern India is a work on India written in English by William Eleroy Curtis (1850–1911) and released free of charge by Project Gutenberg. Judging by its classification, it belongs to the literature of Asian history and geography; it was written between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and therefore carries a distinctly period viewpoint and observer stance. Its value lies not in offering definitive conclusions for contemporary Indian studies but in presenting how a Western author described Indian society, institutions, and customs at the time; it can serve as primary material for understanding colonial-era Western narratives of India. Readers should maintain a critical awareness, distinguish factual description from personal impression and period prejudice, and read it alongside modern works on Indian history. For readers interested in history, colonial studies, or cross-cultural writing, this is an accessible public-domain electronic text; those seeking contemporary analysis of Indian politics and economics should choose recent research instead.

Who it's for

A good fit for

History readers studying colonial-era Western writing on India
Literary readers interested in cross-cultural observation and the travel-writing tradition
Students of Indian history needing public-domain English source material for comparative reading
Those interested in late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century accounts of Asia

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking authoritative contemporary analysis of India's politics and economy
Readers expecting a neutral, objective country profile and unwilling to identify period prejudice
Beginners needing extensive modern annotations and maps

Reading tips

First learn about the author's era and writing context, then read the main text and mark stance-laden statements.
Read alongside a modern general history of India to distinguish historical fact from period prejudice.
Read by theme—society, institutions, customs, and so on—to make note-taking easier.
After reading, record the descriptive frameworks the author uses repeatedly to train critical reading skills.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

When was this book written?

The material does not give the year of first publication, but the author Curtis lived from 1850 to 1911; combined with public-domain knowledge, this indicates the writing dates to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, and readers should understand its period viewpoint accordingly.

Are the views in the book still accurate today?

It should not be used directly as a contemporary profile of India. It reflects a Western author's observations and narrative framework of the time, and some descriptions may carry period prejudice; reading it alongside modern research on Indian history is recommended.

What background is needed to read this book?

The book is an English text and requires some English reading ability. If you are unfamiliar with Indian history, it is advisable to read a modern general history of India or an introduction to colonial history first.

Is this book suitable for academic citation?

It can be cited as a primary text for studying colonial-era Western writing on India, but its period stance should be noted, and it should not be used as the sole basis for facts about contemporary India; modern scholarship should be consulted alongside it.

Comments

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About the author

William Eleroy Curtis Author · American · 1850–1911

William Eleroy Curtis (1850–1911) was an American journalist, author and diplomat, and an active advocate of Pan-Americanism. Born in Akron, Ohio, he long served as a traveling correspondent for the Chicago newspapers Inter-Ocean and Record, journeying through Latin America, India, Spain and elsewhere. Curtis wrote more than thirty books, including Abraham Lincoln, The Capitals of Spanish America, Modern India and One Irish Summer; his subjects centered on foreign observations, political institutions and portraits of public figures, combining a reporter's firsthand immediacy with a popular historian's narrative style. He served as director of the International Bureau of the American Republics and died in Philadelphia in 1911. Public information on his early education and private life is limited.