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Bibliophiles, add ‘India’s First Radicals’ to your personal library

Written by Rosinka Chaudhuri, the book offers a sneak peek into Bengal’s history during the British era

It’s time to add a new book to your 2025 reading list. Rosinka Chaudhuri’s book, India’s First Radical, sheds light on an important chapter of Indian and Bengal history — Young Bengal and the British Empire. Rosinka is a professor at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC). The book offers a compelling narrative that has been endorsed by author Amit Chaudhuri.

Penguin Random House India, the publisher, has described the book as: “In 1831, the editor of the India Gazette wrote a report about a group he called the ‘Radicals’, ‘Ultra-Reformers’ or ‘the Ultras’, who were responsible for an unprecedented upheaval in social, religious and political thinking centred in Calcutta. Later named ‘Young Bengal’, these students of Henry Derozio at the Hindu College had embarked upon a collision course with orthodoxy and authority, generating scandal and sensation in equal measure” — giving a brief introduction to the book. 

Grab your copy here. 

— My Kolkata Web Desk