Diverse Indian communities scattered across the globe now complement the nineteenth century diaspora of indentured laborers and traders, and nowhere has the growth of the Indian diaspora registered such a phenomenal increase as in the United States. This book offers a crisp and politically engaged narrative of the social and cultural history of Indian Americans: commencing with the circulation of ideas about India in America, it considers such phenomena as the Ghadr movement, the struggles over rights of citizenship, the reification of 'Indian culture', the emergence of 'temple Hinduism' and the attempts by NRIs to influence the course of events in India.