The twenty-first century has often been visualized as the ‘Asian century’. A wide variety of commentary presents the emergence of this as an offshoot of the economic growth that some of the Asian nations have successfully achieved in the second half of the twentieth century. The emergence of the Asian century also means the retreat of the existing superpower, i.e. America. The Asian nations selected by Ramachandra Guha, a very well known author and himself a superb prose writer, are home to the bulk of the world population. The makers of Asia chosen by Guha to a large extent shaped these nations and have continued to shape their destiny. Some are being re-questioned within their domestic turf. The Nehruvian framework of Indian government has come under significant pressure, but Nehru remains at the centre of the very foundation of modern India. Commentaries which foreground the economic realm of the Asian century, however, rarely discuss these nations' history of anti-imperialism or their extraordinary effort to emerge from deep-rooted social and political settings. Guha strongly reminds us that behind the rise of the Asian century ‘lies a now somewhat obscured history of agitation and consolidation that created unified, stable … nation-states out of fragmented territories and factious social groups'. This is particularly true of the large sections of the Indian diaspora in America who refuse to see India's proclaimed economic strength, at least not beyond the recent years.

For Makers of Modern Asia, the political lives of these nations and the political and ideological journeys that their leaders adopted are equally powerful in the making of this new Asian century. Asia's twenty-first century would not have been powerful without the eventful days of protests, ideological wars, loss of life and a big challenge to the West, which was waged before much of the birth of the Asian century was talked about. These Asian nations were under the dominance of European countries. The exception was China. Though it was not colonized, the European powers never missed any opportunity to challenge it, and the country was perpetually divided. It was after the beginning of the twentieth century that Asian nations found new confidence in their political leaders. By the middle of the century, these nations set the ball of decolonization rolling, and their colonial masters retreated, often suffering deep humiliation at the hands of their erstwhile subjects.

To unravel the untold yet powerful political dynamics that gave birth to the modern Asian nations, Makers of Modern Asia has neatly put together the extraordinary lives of eleven Asian leaders. The authors of these well-written essays have already studied the politics and times of these leaders and published authoritative accounts of them. Guha ensures that his choice of leaders transcended their own national boundaries and had significant impact on the lives of other nations. Makers picks out leaders from China, India, Vietnam, Pakistan and Singapore and Indonesia. These nations have tumultuous pasts that they largely experienced in the first half of the twentieth century. And their leaders Chiang Kai-shek, Mao, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Gandhi, Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, Bhutto, Sukarno, and Lee, the book suggests, had the strongest footprints on the lives of these nations. These leaders' political, ideological moorings and intellectual influences impacted the lives of billions. Some of them have remained global names even in the twenty-first century. Gandhi's influence in the modern politics of South Africa and the civil rights movement in America is well known. In Mao's own land, Gandhi has become increasingly popular. Gandhi remained a household name for millions for his extraordinary and powerful methods of rejecting imperialism. His South African experience is being increasingly told. More and more people from across the globe now celebrate Gandhi's ideas of sustainable development. His ideas of religious pluralism are more relevant than ever in a conflict-ridden world. Nehru's strong domestic and foreign policies not only shaped his country but strongly influenced other nations too.

These leaders, with a few exceptions, travelled extensively in the West and studied the Western classics. They were familiar with the modern economic and political transformation of the West. They made relentless efforts to question the deep-rooted social values of the societies to which they belonged and initiated modernization programmes. Mao rejected old Confucian values to build a ‘new’ China and was inclined to Marxism. After these nationalist leaders won their wars against their respective enemies they each had a great task ahead of them. Except for Gandhi, each of them took the responsibility of governing his or her nations. Makers of Modern Asia argues that in this task they were more or less successful. Within their own nations, some of these leaders had moderate to strong ideological differences but that did not stop them from forming a long-lasting camaraderie with each other. Mao's works were imaginatively dismantled by his own successors; Nehru's by his own daughter. Deng, who outlived Mao and Zhou, ensured China's transition to modern capitalism. Under his leadership, China became richer. Yet Deng's clampdown on the student protesters in Tiananmen Square in June 1989 severely hurt his reputation and halted China's march toward a freer society.

Among all the twentieth-century leaders, possibly the least remembered personality would be Chiang. He encouraged a Western-educated Chinese elite to unleash China's modernization drive and thus laid the critical foundations for turning both China and Taiwan into modern powers. Of all the leaders, possibly the weakest figure was Indira Gandhi, who temporarily trampled over the political edifice that previous generations had built so meticulously. At times, Mrs. Gandhi failed to grasp the political economy and psychology of political dissent emanating from different quarters that eventually claimed her life. She might have struggled on her domestic turf, but she rose to her feet to withstand diplomatic pressure from America. Her domestic and foreign policies brought fundamental changes to the Indian nation.

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's mighty leader, wielded intellectual influence beyond his own nation and within his own lifetime. In 1954 he defeated the French Army and this was more than enough to raise his popularity across the world. But he was equally a pragmatist. He had conveniently chosen his international alliances. He aligned with various non-communist patriots. His political leadership became a source of inspiration to millions, but this powerful figure of Asian anti-colonialism has become increasingly disconnected from the current Vietnamese imagination.

The lives of Sukarno and Bhutto were exceptional, both created by the ideologies of anti-imperialism, and both tried to reach out to pan-Islamism. Sukarno was ‘the formative political actor in the creation of Indonesia’. Both their nations, however, fell prey to military dictatorships. They carefully nurtured either democracy or one-party rule. Bhutto's political desires weakened his original vision of projecting Pakistan as the embodiment of Asian self-determination. He spearheaded Pakistan's nuclear programme and at the same time made the effort to build pan-Islamic solidarity. His international success was short-lived. He had to face extraordinary political hostility in his own country. His controversial role in the bifurcation of Pakistan and the eventual birth of Bangladesh led to the spread of internal chaos. A military coup in 1977 led to his imprisonment and execution in 1979.

All the leaders who have found a place in this book, except Lee Kuan Yew, the modern architect of Singapore, died long ago. Lee died only in 2015. Lee, a towering personality, transformed Singapore's economy greatly within a short span of time and became one of the most sought-after countries for Western capitalists. Yet Lee's political and economic ideals, Makers of Modern Asia reminds us, remained critically hostile to Western ideas of ‘political practice and state-making’.

Essentially, Makers of Modern Asia successfully makes new connections between Asian nations by retelling the political biographies of these nations. By doing so, this book superbly recaptures the time-tested tradition of political biography. The book's brilliantly argued essays carry fresh insights which would have to be taken seriously by anyone interested in the emergence of modern Asia. Any reader curious to understand the birth of the Asian century as well as to know how the Asian countries struggled for national unity will be interested in this book. The book will also remain one of the most important contributions to our new understanding of the birth of major Asian nations, which have challenged the European and American economies. This profoundly thought-provoking work will give us a different understanding of modern Asia.