Preface1. Then and Now, an IntroductionPart I: Fake Socialism, 1947–19642. An Uncertain Beginning3. The Path Not Taken4. Nehru’s Dangerous Gamble5. Nehru Doubles His Bet6. Tagore’s Unheard Song7. Mr. Nehru’s Tragedy, Democracy’s First BetrayalPart Ii: Violence, 1964–19848. Shastri Makes a Brave Transition9. A Savior for India’s Ferment10. India Has an Empress11. Anger Meets Repression12. An Autocratic Gamble Fails13. Democracy Betrays Again, Deindustrialization Begins14. When the Violence Came HomePart III: The Promise, 1985–200415. A Pilot Flies into Political Headwinds16. Rajiv Unleashes the Gale Force of Hindu Nationalism17. An All-Too-Brief Moment of Sanity18. The Promise Has a Dark Underbelly19. No, India Does Not ShinePart IV: Hubris, 2005 to the Present20. As the Two Indias Drift Apart, Democracy Creaks21. Modi Pushes the Economy off the Edge22. Modi Breaks India’s Fractured Democracy23. COVID-19 Bares the Moral DecayEpilogue: A Feasible IdealismAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex