The United States of India: Anticolonial Literature and Transnational Refraction by Manan Desai (review).

"The United States of India: Anticolonial Literature and Transnational Refraction" by Manan Desai explores the little-known period of Indian and American cultural interaction from 1914 to 1929. The book examines how Indian anticolonial nationalists in the US and American writers used a "refractive" lens to build a comparative framework between India and the United States. The author argues that these transnational ways of seeing played a role in the development of anticolonial thought during and after World War I. The book focuses on the writings of Lajpat Rai, Agnes Smedley, Dhan Gopal Mukerji, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Katherine Mayo, and provides a historical context for their work. While the book could benefit from more attention to form and gender, it offers valuable insights into the interconnections and intellectual networks between India and the US during this period. [Extracted from the article]