This book provides a technological history of modern India, in particular the Nehruvian development in the context of the Cold War. Through a series of case studies about military modernization, transportation infrastructure, and electric power, it examines how the ideals of autarky and technological indigenization conflicted with the economic and political realities of the Cold War world. Where other studies tend to focus on the political leaders and economists who oversaw development, this book demonstrates how the perspective of the engineers, government bureaucrats, and aid workers informed and ultimately implemented development.
"A Technological History of Cold-War India is the book historians of modern India as well as historians of technology have been waiting for. ... An impressive debut monograph, William A. T. Logan's A Technological History of Cold-War India is a must read for historians of India, technology, and the Cold War. ... Logan's book arrives as a rising India is asserting itself more on the global stage, buoyed by its economic and technological strengths." (Marc Reyes, Technology and Culture, Vol. 63 (4), October, 2022)