Description
This two-volume collection of eclectic essays on Kolkata seeks to explore areas not covered in the earlier
works on the city, in terms of both topics and time. The first section of Volume 1 indicates how the city has
negotiated space from its formative years right up to the crucial juncture it seems to have reached recently
as a result of the drastic shift towards mega-urbanity. The second section provides glimpse into the city in
time, through the two global wars in the twentieth century, the Naxalite movement, the rule of the Left Front
and beyond.
While recognizing that the colonial rulers did play a vital role in the making of the city, the book is primarily
about the active native participation in the process of Kolkata’s urban transformation.