India, Dec. 26 -- Historical discourse in the Indian public sphere these days is mostly a choice between rigorous historiography but weak politics and political hubris but pedestrian historiography. The two need not necessarily reconcile as far as academia is concerned. But the growing schism does not help us in making sense of the India that we live in today, especially for working journalists rather than professional historians.

It is here that a new cohort of historians - it is more than a coincidence that their academic pursuits are multidisciplinary - are being at their vanguardist best in producing historical work which deals with India of more recent vintage and therefore necessitates political engagement with the present. I chose...