Renaissance State: The Unwritten Story of the Making of Maharashtra

Maharashtra s fascinating historySeamleslessly goes from one Era to the nextFills one with pride as to being an indian....

The book very effortlessly illustrates how Maharashtra over the centuries has influenced the socio, political, economic and cultural history of India.The author has written in a disinterested manner. Ideologically the book is neutral.The chapters on Chattrapati Shivaji and the Peshwa are meticulously written. In the end, the book covers the post-independence history of Maharashtra and elucidates on the power tussle for the country's top post(PM) through the lens of Maharashtra.Such books which exclusively focus on a particular state are needed today. They help in making people aware of the rich sub-national(regional) history of India, amidst the jingoist narrow and centralised nationalism of today.

Good overall read. Some of the mentioned observations are disputable - but that's the nature of history. Would have appreciated if Mr. Kuber had included a chapter on why our great state has been in decline in recent times.

Why Shivaji matters..this is the most relevant and highly readable chapter of this book.It highlights the ideals of this land that we recognize and revere as Maharashtra. The author eloquently pens the ways in which Shivaji Maharaj laid the foundation of Secularism and Tolerance.It only reiterates the uniqueness of the Marathi language and the Marathi identity and traces its journey from the times of Shivaji Maharaj to the present day Marathi Manoos ... Worth reading

For Maharashtrians like us, living in other states for generations, this book is a delectable read that gives meaningful insights into the making of their native land put into a proper perspective. Also, it's a breezy read (even for children as young as 15)  that gets readers glued to the book till the end due to well-researched content as well as lucid narration.

There aren’t many books written about Maharashtra and especially about the ‘Marathi manoos’ so i was quite intrigued to read it. The book started on a high note and gets you hooked almost immediately. It’s a momentous task to write about the history of Maharashtra and no amount of scholarship would ever be adequate to comprehensively put it all together but the author has made an attempt here. The book gets a bit slow in the middle and the author should’ve explored the depths of some topics whereas some details of some chapters seemed unnecessary. It was a decent attempt at capturing the journey of the ‘Marathi manoos’ but i feel somewhere the author was insufficient in accurately capturing the ethos their mindset. It had a lot of potential and it could sure have been a lot more. I was introduced to so many people whom i never knew had contributed so much were birthed and nourished in this soil and that was very interesting. Much of authors views at times could be construed as a bit biased and he was also oddly focused on pointing out the secular nature of many leaders. Nevertheless this book doesn’t disappoint and is a starter for anyone trying to get an overview of what Maharashtra is and how Maharashtrians contributed in shaping India.

I like this book as it gives historical development of Maharashtra upto date in sequence.My asendents shifted to village.I wanted to know exactly in which era,they shifted either shahaji maharaj,shivaji maharaj,adilshahi,baridshai,peshwai.because as per knowledge to provide grass to horses of shahaji maharaj land were given."kulkarni"is govt post in era of shivaji maharaj.

The good part of this book is, it covers all the details of thousands of years in a few pages. However, that is unhelpful too as you cannot go in detail of a particular topic if you wish to. Secondly, as the author says, this isn't a scholarly work, so the foundations are a bit shaky. However, its a good read for someone who is not acquainted with the history of Maharashtra. I would definitely recommend it notwithstanding the controversy.

Girish Kuber has provided a masterpiece on the history and legacy of many who built the great state of Maharashtra.