A Corner of a Foreign Field seamlessly interweaves biography with history, the lives of famous or forgotten cricketers with wider processes of social change. C. K. Nayudu and Sachin Tendulkar naturally figure in this book but so, too, in unexpected ways, do B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, and M. A. Jinnah. The Indian careers of those great British cricketers, Lord Harris and D. R. Jardine, provide a window into the operations of Empire. The remarkable life of India’s first great slow bowler, Palwankar Baloo, provides an arresting new perspective on the struggle against caste discrimination. Later chapters explore the competition between Hindu and Muslim cricketers in colonial India and the destructive passions now provoked when India plays Pakistan. For this new edition, Ramachandra Guha has added a fresh introduction as well as a long new chapter, bringing the story up to date to cover, among other things, the advent of the Indian Premier League and the Indian team’s victory in the World Cup of 2011, these linked to social and economic transformations in contemporary India. A pioneering work, essential for anyone interested in either of those vast themes, cricket and India, A Corner of a Foreign Field is also a beautifully written meditation on the ramifications of sport in society at large.

In this comprehensive and accessible account, Paul Doerr examines British foreign policy from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 to the outbreak of World War Two in 1939. How did British leaders try to preserve the peace in the years after Versailles? Why did they resort to appeasement when confronted by Adolf Hitler? To what extent were British leaders limited by public opinion, economics, and global commitments? These questions and more are answered in this volume which surveys the results of the Paris Peace conference, and the crushing of the hopes of the 1920s under the impact of the Depression. British leaders are here seen trying to cope with the multiple crises of the 1930s, from Manchuria in 1931 to the final descent into war in 1939. Doerr’s survey is enhanced by detailed portraits of the leading actors and accounts of some of the famous meetings and events.