Calcutta, for whose slums and poverty many moan, has been a city swept by various imported ideas and vibrant with indigenous ones. In the process it has evolved into a creative center, especially in the fields of arts, thought, and science. Controversy is what the city has thrived upon, despite its multiplicity of problems. The book deals with some of the controversies and their contribution to contemporary society and culture. ..".a very well informed account--highly perceptive--of intellectual trends and related changes in Calcutta."
Robert J. Crane
Ford-Maxwell Professor of South Asia History
Syracuse University