ANCIENT HISTORY AND INDIAN CULTURE – R s Sharma
- Rise and fall of empires and reign of kings has been placed in the context of the ancient social milieu, the existing varna system, developments in science and technology, commerce and trade and the cultural legacy that shaped society.
- There are separate sections that detail about Harappan and Vedic civilization, the age of Mauryas and the rise of Buddhism and Jainism.
- At the end of the book you will find a note from the author on the transition from Ancient India to Medieval India.
MODERN INDIAN HISTORY – Bipin Chandra
It traces the timeline of British rule which majorly coincides with the modern Indian history. However, this is not a political narrative of the British rule, the freedom struggle and the Independence. Rather, this book is a social understanding of the factors that allowed British rulers to rule over India for such a long span of time. It tries to understand what the social effects of the rule were. How the small villages and corners of India was affected by a power that was controlled from Europe.
This is not the only accurate description of Modern Indian history, but this is much closer to the everyday reality of those who lived between 1700s-1947 in India. This book is a recommended read for the students who are preparing for civil services with “history” as an optional paper.
WORLD HISTORY – Norman Lowe
Syllabus:
History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.- their forms and effect on the society.
Except Industrial Revolution, this book covers all the topics in detail and comprehensive manner.
Features of the book
This book gives you information about world history starting from First World War to disintegration of USSR.
Unlike other history books that many a times are boring, this book is divided into multiple events and chapters that are interconnected and easy to comprehend.
The chapters are beautifully explained in bullet points and every next chapter is explained linking the previous chapters and events. This is important to follow and understand multiple events.
All the chapters have subjective questions in the end that is linked to various issues discussed in the chapters. This will help you to recollect the points and helps in developing the thought process as some questions are analytical (exactly what UPSC asks)
The distinct feature of this book is the simplicity of narrating the events in point wise manner along with ‘Thinking Exercise’ at the end of every chapter. Thinking exercise will help you to consolidate all the important events and issues thereby generating opinions and critical thinking.
The language of the book is very simple and easy that makes it very comprehensible for a beginner and non-social science background aspirants.
| Name of Paper | Name of the Book | Author/Publication |
| ANCIENT HISTORY AND INDIAN CULTURE | India’s Ancient Past | R.S. Sharma |
| MODERN INDIAN HISTORY | History of Modern India | Bipin Chandra |
| India’s Struggle for Independence | Bipin Chandra & Others | |
| POST INDEPENDENCE HISTORY | India After Independence (1947 – 2000) | Bipin Chandra & Others |
| WORLD HISTORY | Contemporary World History for class XII | Old NCERT Book |
| Mastering Modern World History | Norman Lowe | |
| SOCIAL ISSUES PART 1 | Chapters on Communalism, Secularism and Urban Issues such as Poverty, Housing, etc. | XII Standard NCERT |
| Indian Society (Chapters on Unity & Diversity and Population Issues) | XI Standard NCERT on Indian Society | |
| Newspaper | The Hindu / Indian Express | |
| WORLD PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY and INDIAN GEOGRAPHY | Certificate Physical & Human Geography (Oxford) | Goh Cheng Leong |
| (1) India – Physical Environment (2) Fundamentals of Physical Geography | XI Standard NCERT | |
| (1) India – People & Economy (2) Fundamentals of Human Geography | XII Standard NCERT | |
| School Atlas | Orient Black Swan |