What do a radical caste reformer and vernacular sexologist, a woman Ayurvedic practitioner, a cosmopolitan advocate of Hindu self-strengthening and an early Communist interested in Utopian thought, have in common? These are the deeply intriguing figures around which leading historian Charu Gupta has woven her compelling new social history of early 20th century north India in her new book Hindi Hindu Histories: Caste, Ayurveda, Travel, and Communism in Early Twentieth Century India. Life histories, particularly multiple life histories told in parallel, have proved a very effective way of bringing India’s complex states and societies to life. Richard Eaton’s A Social...