Half a century of freedom has tripled India's population and more than quadrupled its gross domestic product. Its economy has been lifted to new heights within the last five years alone. Nearly 200 million urban educated Indian business managers, skilled scientists and professionals, political leaders, and government officials have sprung to affluence, creating an India that is enjoying all the pleasures of modern Western life. For some, however, India's past remains a reality, its poverty a continuing presence, and its economic strides still unable to create equality among the sexes. The New History of India , now in its fifth edition, explores today's affluent India, its rich culture, and its best theologians, politicians, and social activists. This fifth edition remains the most readable and illuminating one-volume history of India and brings students up-to-date on current developments. Wolpert places these developments within the context of India's 4,000 years of continental continuity and communal complexity. No other history records as brilliantly, nor as truthfully, the brightest achievements of Indian civilization and the dark depths of its socio-sexual inequities and economic-political corruption. Invaluable for history courses focusing on the past, present, and future of India, this revised edition maintains its position as the best survey of India.