The first history of Indian literature in English to cover the 200 years from Raja Rammohan Ray to Arundhati Roy, including in its scope canonical poets and novelists, social reformers (Behramji Malabari), anthropologists (Verrier Elwin), nature writers (Sálim Ali), and writers of the Indian disapora (Seepersad Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul, Ved Mehta).