Pramod K. Nayar is Assistant Professor in English at the University of Hyderabad, India. His most recent books include Packaging Life: Cultures of the Everyday (Sage 2009), Postcolonial Literature: An Introduction (Pearson, 2008), A Short History of English Literature (Cambridge, India, 2000) and English Writing and India, 1600-1920 (Routledge, 2008).

• Preface; Introduction: Postcolonial Thought; 1. Colonial Cultures; 2. Nation and Nationalism; 3. Space and Place; 4. Gender and Sexuality; 5. Cosmopolitanisms; 6. New Concerns; Further Reading; Bibliography; Index.

Pramod Nayar's survey of postcolonialism covers substantial terrain with consummate ease. It moves from the theoretical and literary engagements with colonialism's cultures, the rise of postcolonial thought in anti-colonial struggles through the major literary themes of space, nationalism, sexuality and gender, to newer postcolonial formations in the cosmopolitan and globalized age we live in. Nayar's close attention to tropes, literary figurations, the politics of postcolonial theory and the continued relevance of postcolonial approaches to terrorism, cybercultures and globalization - all carefully illustrated and evidenced from texts from Africa, Asia, South American and other formerly colonized nations - makes this book at once an indispensable introduction to the field and a critical evaluation of the literary-political discipline of "Postcolonial Studies." The book will be of interest to students in History, Literary Studies, Cultural Studies and Theory across the world where questions about race, culture, colonialism and identity continue to productively 'trouble' pedagogy and reading practices.