Allen Charles. Aryans: The Search for a People, a Place and a Myth

Hachette India, 2023. — 462 p.Few themes in history have had as strong a hold on people's imagination. Fewer still have managed to alter the course of civilization.This is Charles Allen's definitive account of the Aryans, offering a grand sweep of language, mythology, contested histories and conflict. Spanning continents, cultures and societies: from the Russian steppe to the Indus valley, the Iliad to the Mahabharata, Greek to Sanskrit, Putin to Trump, and Müller to Vivekananda, Aryans astonishes with its scope. Allen, true to a style that has endeared him to a legion of admirers, weaves a narrative that is startling and illuminating.Product of a great investigation and meticulous scholarship, , Allen's last book, is his crowning achievement and marks the end of an illustrious career.Charles Allen is the author of a number of bestselling books about India, including Plain Tales from the Raj, Kipling Sahib, Ashoka and Coromandel. A traveller, historian and master storyteller, his books, which draw on detailed research, are a testament to a life spent uncovering the stories of the land of his birth. His lasting legacy lies in a series of books about British involvement in India, and the people whose scholarship helped trace the past of the subcontinent and discovered the common root of Indian and European languages. He died in 2020, leaving Aryans, close to completion, with his dear friend David Loyn, who has edited the book.