Technology and Culture

For historians of modern India, any study on Indian development during the Cold War will invariably reference Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's 1963 maxim that dams were "the new temples of India." This phrase is so ubiquitous that it would surely be center spot on any Indian development bingo card. One of the many successes of historian William A. T. Logan's A Technological History of Cold-War India is the [End Page 1244] unpacking of this phrase and exploration of how technological development, whether in the form of dam building or reactor construction, drove Indian state-making in the decades following its 1947 independence. Furthermore, Logan skillfully reframes Indian development as a technological undertaking. For years, post–World War II development in India has often been filtered through the lenses of economic and, to a lesser extent, political development. Logan instead provides scholars a refreshing and fascinating way to better understand a place (India) and phenomenon (development) that have merited much study.

Over the past two decades, scholars of Indian development have been fortunate to enjoy many works, including those by Nick Cullather and Kristin Ahlberg. A more recent publication, one that Logan's book is in conversation with and builds upon, is David C. Engerman's The Price of Aid. Logan carries Engerman's story forward by analyzing the type of development projects that were approved at the highest level of the Indian government but made impacts on the local level, whether as a dam, bridge, or power station. Logan is direct from the beginning of his book that his contribution to this body of literature began as a response to Daniel Headrick's 1988 book, The Tentacles of Progress. While Logan's book is no sequel to Headrick's book, it does pick up the baton and take the story past the India of the 1940s. Logan digs deep into the archives, especially U.S. and Indian government documents to reveal the successes and failures of Indian development under Nehru. This book is not a chronicling of new technological breakthroughs in India but instead depicts how existing technologies were adopted, their circulation throughout the country, and finally how they adapted to Indian conditions.

At the heart of Logan's book are questions about the successfulness of Nehruvian development or modernization in India. It is clear that Nehruvian development was a mixed bag. Yes, the country saw progress but not nearly enough to lift its people out of poverty. Furthermore, he asks when and why did technological indigenization both succeed and fail in India. Through different case studies—eight of the book's chapters profile the building of specific dams, bridges, fighter jets, and atomic power stations—Logan asserts that while India had the expertise and plenty of labor, its big development schemes were held up due to capital. India, despite receiving millions in aid from the United States and the Soviet Union, never had the funds to match their economic ambition. Often the country went abroad seeking aid but stuck close to its nonaligned guns and refused to equate the receiving of aid as proof of any alliance. Logan's book effectively demonstrates that time and time again, India had almost all of the resources necessary for big development—except the money.

A Technological History of Cold-War India is the book historians of modern India as well as historians of technology have been waiting for. Building on works by David Arnold and Ross Bassett, Logan provides a [End Page 1245] wide swath of Indian technological development in the decades following independence. Whether it is infrastructure or energy or military related, Logan's book offers something for different types of historians of technology.

An impressive debut monograph, William A. T. Logan's A Technological History of Cold-War India is a must read for historians of India, technology, and the Cold War. Each chapter is an insightful, well-researched work, but...