ArchiveNIF Book Prize (2018 - 2025)
2025
Winner
Engineering a Nation: The Life and Career of M. Visvesvaraya
Aparajith Ramnath | Penguin
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01 Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva
Janaki Bakhle
Princeton University Press/Penguin
02 India’s Forgotten Country: A View from the Margins
Bela Bhatia
Penguin
03 India’s Near East: A New History
Avinash Paliwal
Hurst/Penguin
04 Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity
Manu S Pillai
Penguin
05 Engineering a Nation: The Life and Career of M. Visvesvaraya
Aparajith Ramnath
Penguin
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01 Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva
Janaki Bakhle
Princeton University Press/Penguin
02 India’s Forgotten Country: A View from the Margins
Bela Bhatia
Penguin
03 Iru: The Remarkable Life of Irawati Karve
Urmilla Deshpande and Thiago Pinto Barbosa
Speaking Tiger
04 India’s Near East: A New History
Avinash Paliwal
Hurst/Penguin
05 Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity
Manu Pillai
Penguin
06 Engineering a Nation: The Life and Career of M. Visvesvaraya
Aparajith Ramnath
Penguin
07 The Backstage of Democracy: India’s Election Campaigns and the People Who Manage Them
Amogh Dhar Sharma
Cambridge University Press
08 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay: The Art of Freedom.
Nico Slate
University of Pittsburgh Press/Harper Collins
09 Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
Anand Teltumbde
Penguin
10 The Gujaratis: A Portrait of a Community
Salil Tripathi
Aleph Book Company
2024
Winner
A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of B.R. Ambedkar
Ashok Gopal | Navayana
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01 How Prime Ministers Decide
Neerja Choudhry
Aleph Book Company
02 A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of B.R. Ambedkar
Ashok Gopal
Navayana
03 Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras
Radhika Iyengar
HarperCollins
04 H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars
Kunal Purohit
HarperCollins
05 Sheikh Abdullah: The Caged Lion of Kashmir
Chitralekha Zutshi
HarperCollins
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01 Toward a Free Economy: Swatantra and Opposition Politics in Democratic India
Aditya Balasubramanian
Princeton University Press
02 From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada
Sudha Bharadwaj
Juggernaut
03 Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century
Joya Chatterji
Penguin
04 How Prime Ministers Decide
Neerja Choudhry
Aleph Book Company
05 A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of B.R. Ambedkar
Ashok Gopal
Navayana
06 Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras
Radhika Iyengar
HarperCollins
07 H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars
Kunal Purohit
HarperCollins
08 Sheikh Abdullah: The Caged Lion of Kashmir
Chitralekha Zutshi
HarperCollins
09 No Birds of Passage: A History of Gujarati Muslim Business Communities 1800-1975
Michael O’Sullivan
Harvard University Press
10 Swadeshi Steam: V.O. Chidambaram Pillai and the Battle Against the British Maritime Empire
AR Venkatachalapathy
Penguin
2023
Winner
Writer, Lover, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya
Akshay Mukul |. Penguin
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01 Founding Mothers of the Indian Republic: Gender Framing of the Politics of the Constitution
Achyut Chetan
Cambridge University Press
02 Delhi Reborn: Partition and Nation Building in India’s Capital
Rotem Geva
Stanford University Press
03 Writer, Lover, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya
Akshay Mukul
Penguin
04 Land, Guns, Caste, Woman: The Memoir of a Lapsed Revolutionary
Gita Ramaswamy
Navayana
05 Nehru’s India: A History in Seven Myths
Taylor C. Sherman
Princeton University Press
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01 The Eastern Gate: War and Peace in Nagaland, Manipur and India’s Far East
Sudeep Chakravarti
Simon & Schuster
02 Founding Mothers of the Indian Republic: Gender Framing of the Politics of the Constitution
Achyut Chetan
Cambridge University Press
03 Delhi Reborn: Partition and Nation Building in India’s Capital
Rotem Geva
Stanford University Press
04 Insurgency and the Artist: The Art of the Freedom Struggle in India
Vinay Lal
Roli Books
05 Crooked Cats: Beastly Encounters in the Anthropocene
Nayanika Mathur
HarperCollins
06 Writer, Lover, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya
Akshay Mukul
Penguin
07 The Journey of Hindi Language Journalism in India: From Raj to Swaraj and Beyond
Mrinal Pande
Orient BlackSwan
08 Land, Guns, Caste, Woman: The Memoir of a Lapsed Revolutionary
Gita Ramaswamy
Navayana
09 House of the People: Parliament and the Making of Indian Democracy
Ronojoy Sen
Cambridge University Press
10 Nehru’s India: A History in Seven Myths
Taylor C. Sherman
Princeton University Press
2022
Winner
The Chipko Movement: A People’s History
Shekhar Pathak, Manisha Chaudhary (Translator) | Permanent Black
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01 Accidental Feminism: Gender Parity and Selective Mobility Among India’s Professional Elite
Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen
Princeton University Press
02 The Chipko Movement: A People’s History
Shekhar Pathak, Manisha Chaudhary (Translator)
Permanent Black
03 Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India
Rukmini S
Context, Westland
04 Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India
Suchitra Vijayan
Context, Westland
05 Born a Muslim: Some Truths about Islam in India
Ghazala Wahab
Aleph
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01 Accidental Feminism: Gender Parity and Selective Mobility Among India’s Professional Elite
Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen
Princeton University Press
02 The Chipko Movement: A People’s History
Shekhar Pathak, Manisha Chaudhary (Translator)
Permanent Black
03 Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India
Rukmini S
Context, Westland
04 Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India
Suchitra Vijayan
Context, Westland
05 Born a Muslim: Some Truths about Islam in India
Ghazala Wahab
Aleph
06 The Truths and Lies of Nationalism as Narrated by Charvak
Partha Chatterjee
Permanent Black
07 Sayed Haider Raza: The Journey of an Iconic Artist
Yashodhara Dalmia
HarperCollins
08 Governance by Stealth: The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Making of the Indian State
Subrata Mitra
Oxford University Press
09 Tata: The Global Corporation that Built Indian Capitalism
Mircea Raianu
Harvard University Press
10 Congress Radio: Usha Mehta and the Underground Radio Station of 1942
Usha Thakkar
Penguin Random House
2021
Winner
Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism
Dinyar Patel | Harvard University Press
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01 The Death Script: Dreams and Delusions in Naxal Country
Ashutosh Bhardwaj
HarperCollins
02 India’s First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-77
Christophe Jaffrelot & Pratinav Anil
HarperCollins
03 Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism
Dinyar Patel
Harvard University Press
04 Gandhi in the Gallery: The Art of Disobedience
Sumathi Ramaswamy
Roli Books
05 The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict 1914-1921
Radhika Singha
HarperCollins
06 Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi
Vinay Sitapati
Penguin
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01 Muscular India: Masculinity, Mobility & the New Middle Class
Michiel Baas
Context, Westland
02 The Death Script: Dreams and Delusions in Naxal Country
Ashutosh Bhardwaj
HarperCollins
03 India’s First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-77
Christophe Jaffrelot & Pratinav Anil
HarperCollins
04 Brand New Nation: Capitalist Dreams and Nationalist Designs in Twenty-First-Century India
Ravinder Kaur
Stanford University Press
05 India’s Founding Moment: The Constitution of a Most Surprising Democracy
Madhav Khosla
Harvard University Press
06 Sebastian & Sons: A Brief History of Mrdangam Makers
T.M. Krishna
Context, Westland
07 The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast
Arkotong Longkumer
Stanford University Press
08 I Could Not Be Hindu: The Story of a Dalit in the RSS
Bhanwar Meghwanshi, Nivedita Menon (Translator)
Navayana
09 Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism
Dinyar Patel
Harvard University Press
10 Gandhi in the Gallery: The Art of Disobedience
Sumathi Ramaswamy
Roli Books
11 The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict 1914-1921
Radhika Singha
HarperCollins
12 Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi
Vinay Sitapati
Penguin
2020
Winners
01 Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements
Amit Ahuja | Oxford University Press
02 A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon
Jairam Ramesh | Penguin Random House
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01 Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements
Amit Ahuja
Oxford University Press
02 Midnight's Machines: A Political History of Technology in India
Arun Mohan Sukumar
Penguin Random House
03 The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra
Arupjyoti Saikia
Oxford University Press
04 A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon
Jairam Ramesh
Penguin Random House
05 Bottle of Lies: Ranbaxy and the Dark Side of Indian Pharma
Katherine Eban
Juggernaut
06 Wild Himalaya: A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth
Stephen Alter
Aleph
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01 Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements
Amit Ahuja
Oxford University Press
02 Wild Himalaya: A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth
Stephen Alter
Aleph
03 The Great Agrarian Conquest: The Colonial Reshaping of a Rural World
Neeladri Bhattacharya
Permanent Black/State University of New York Press
04 Bottle of Lies: Ranbaxy and the Dark Side of Indian Pharma
Katherine Eban
Juggernaut
05 Animal Intimacies: Beastly Love in the Himalayas
Radhika Govindrajan
Penguin Random House
06 Kuknalim, Naga Armed Resistance: Testimonies of Leaders, Pastors, Healers and Soldiers
Nandita Haksar and Sebastian M. Hongray
Speaking Tiger
07 A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon
Jairam Ramesh
Penguin Random House
08 The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra
Arupjyoti Saikia
Oxford University Press
09 Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past, 1883-1924
Vikram Sampath
Penguin Random House
10 Panjab: Journeys through Fault Lines
Amandeep Sandhu
Westland
11 2019: How Modi Won India
Rajdeep Sardesai
HarperCollins Publishers
12 Midnight's Machines: A Political History of Technology in India
Arun Mohan Sukumar
Penguin Random House
2019
Winner
How India Became Democratic: Citizenship And The Making Of The Universal Franchise
Ornit Shani | Penguin
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01 Interrogating My Chandal Life: An Autobiography Of A Dalit
Manoranjan Byapari, Sipra Mukherjee (Translator)
Sage
02 A People's Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic
Rohit De
Penguin/Princeton University Press
03Snigdha Poonam’s Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World
Snigdha Poonam
Penguin
04Nightmarch: A Journey into India's Naxal Heartlands
Alpa Shah
HarperCollins
05How India Became Democratic: Citizenship And The Making Of The Universal Franchise
Ornit Shani
Penguin
06Living without the Dead: Loss and Redemption in a Jungle Cosmos
Piers Vitebsky
HarperCollins
2018
Winner
When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics
Milan Vaishnav | HarperCollins
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01 Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India
Abhinav Chandrachud
Penguin
02 Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory
Aanchal Malhotra
HarperCollins
03 The Broken Ladder: The Paradox and The Potential of India’s One Billion
Anirudh Krishna
Penguin
04 Ants among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India
Sujatha Gidla
HarperCollins
05 When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics
Milan Vaishnav
HarperCollins
06 Social Justice through Inclusion: The Consequences of Electoral Quotas in India
Francesca R. Jensenius
Oxford University Press