Overview

Named among ""The Best Books of 2020"" by Bloomberg Shortlisted for New India Foundation's Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Book Prize 2020Every Prime Minister of Independent India has guided, if not personally overseen, one prized portfolio: technology. If, in the early years, Nehru and his scientist-advisors retained an iron grip on it, subsequent governments created a bureaucracy that managed everything from the country's crown jewels - its nuclear and space programmes - to solar stoves and mechanized bullock carts. But a lesser-known political project began on 15 August 1947: the Indian state's undertaking to influence what the citizens thought about technology and its place in society.

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9780670091096

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'I have no doubt that Midnight's Machines will be heralded for years to come as the definitive account of India's attempts to negotiate its technological destiny. In his trail-blazing book, Arun Mohan Sukumar masterfully blends history, science and politics to deliver a narrative that both enthralls and informs. He proves himself to be that rare historian with a journalist's eye for detail and a novelist's ear for prose. A must-read for all interested in India's technological role in the 21st century world.' - Dr Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram-- ""Dr Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram"" 'Midnight's Machines boldly addresses the great conundrum: why, despite the political will and technical ingenuity, has India since 1947 failed to become a more technologically advanced and self-sufficient society? Sukumar unveils a critical, often devastating, critique of what went wrong in the country's ""tortuous"" relationship with modern technology. Religion, science, domestic politics, international diplomacy, sceptical leadership and public doubt-all make this a compelling work of insight and analysis. Splendidly researched and fluently written, Midnight's Machines deftly combines historical causes and contemporary dilemmas. This is the masterpiece that other accounts of India's technology will need to come to terms with.' - David Arnold, author of Everyday Technology: Machines and the Making of India's Modernity-- ""David Arnold, author of Everyday Technology: Machines and the Making of India's Modernity"" 'Midnight's Machines is a sweeping and provocative exploration of postcolonial India's romance with modern technology. It examines the record of this romance of over seventy years with admirable assurance and a keen eye to identify how attempts to engineer the nation with machines have always been bound up with political machinations, explaining a persistently contradictory approach to technology. Learned and thoughtful, the book offers an energetically written argument about the relationship between technology and politics in postcolonial India.' - Gyan Prakash, author of Emergency Chronicles and Mumbai Fables-- ""Gyan Prakash, author of Emergency Chronicles and Mumbai Fables"" 'There are some books which, once they appear, make the reader wonder why they hadn't been written before. This account of India's often tortured relationship with technology belongs in that genre. As a symbol of the modernity that defined imperialism, technology has always been suspect for Indians who wanted to create a new ideal of freedom. Sukumar traces the interminable debate over this problem in Indian politics and evaluates its very real consequences in fascinating detail.' - Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History, University of Oxford-- ""Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History, University of Oxford""

Author Information

Arun Mohan Sukumar is a PhD candidate at the Fletcher School, Tufts University, and a junior fellow at the school's Centre for International Law and Governance.

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