In the nineteenth century, Bengal witnessed an extraordinary intellectual flowering. Bengali prose emerged, and with it the novel and modern blank verse; old arguments about religion,society, and the lives of women were overturned; great schools and colleges were created; new ideassurfaced in science. And all these changes were led by a handful of remarkable men and women. Forthe first time comes a gripping narrative about the Bengal renaissance recounted through the livesof all its players from rammohun roy to Rabindranath Tagore. Immaculately researched, told with color, drama, and passion, awakening is a stunning achievement.

Subrata Dasgupta is Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Louisiana where he also holds an Eminent Scholar Chair. He has worked for many years on the Bengal Renaissance. He is the author of eleven previous books including a memoir, Salaam Stanley Matthews.