Gordon, Stewart 1945-

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Gordon, Stewart 1945-

PERSONAL:

Born 1945. Education: University of Michigan, Ph.D., 1972. Hobbies and other interests: Carving folk art automata.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Ann Arbor, MI. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Center for South Asian Studies, senior research scholar. Also served as a consultant on two documentaries for the Discovery Channel.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, 1967; Fulbright Hays Language Fellowship, 1968-69, Fulbright Fellowship-HEW, to India, 1969-70; American Institute of Indian Studies, senior fellowship, to India, 1975-76, 1990; Social Science Research Council, research grant, to England, 1977, 1980.

WRITINGS:

The Marathas, 1600-1818, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Marathas, Marauders, and State Formation in Eighteenth-Century India, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

Sunlight and Steel: The Story of the S.S. Constitution and the S.S. Independence, Prow Press (Libertyville, IL), 1994.

(Editor) Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture, Palgrave (New York, NY), 2001.

Robes of Honor: Khil'at in Pre-Colonial and Colonial India, Oxford University Press (New Delhi, India), 2003.

When Asia Was the World, Da Capo Press (Cambridge, MA), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and educator Stewart Gordon was born in 1945. He attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, earning his doctoral degree in 1972, with a concentration in history, particularly the history of South Asia, and sociology. Over the course of his career, he has won fellowships from a number of organizations, including the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the American Institute of Indian Studies. He has also earned various research grants from the Social Science Research Council. He holds a position at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in the Center for South Asian Studies, where he serves as a senior research scholar. He has also been a consultant for two documentary films for the Discovery Channel. Gordon is the author of a number of books, including The Marathas, 1600-1818; Marathas, Marauders, and State Formation in Eighteenth-Century India; Sunlight and Steel: The Story of the S.S. Constitution and the S.S. Independence; Robes of Honor: Khil'at in Pre-Colonial and Colonial India; and When Asia Was the World.

In Marathas, Marauders, and State Formation in Eighteenth-Century India, Gordon offers readers a collection of essays on eighteenth-century India, provid- ing a broad overview that takes into account his wide range of study and an equally vast amount of source materials and methods designed to gain a strong understanding of the diverse and complex culture and social structure of the country. Gordon's primary interest and focus of his studies is the central region of Malwa, India, an area that is both ethnically and ecologically diverse. The British assessment of the region during colonial times serves as a foundation for Gordon's work. He then takes theories and research of either indigenous Marathi or Persian sources and overlays them with the British analysis of the area. The essays collected in Marathas, Marauders, and State Formation in Eighteenth-Century India are organized in chronological order based on the first publication date, although this information is omitted from the work. Gordon provides a new introduction for every essay, using each section to discount many traditional ideas regarding eighteenth-century India and the reputedly chaotic nature of the time period. Michael H. Fisher, in a review for the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, commented that "the volume has no conclusion and the brief introduction does little to make explicit the overarching themes that run through this collection," but concluded that the work "reflects some of the best work about this region during its period." Frank L. Conlon, in a review for the Journal of the American Oriental Society, observed: "Gordon's pen has yielded some of the most imaginative and stimulating interpretative essays in the field and he has been recognized as one of a handful of non-Maharashtrian scholars whose contributions have reoriented the historiographical debates concerning the region and the period."

When Asia Was the World focuses on the Dark Ages in Europe, following the fall of the Roman Empire, at which point Asia became the cultural center of the world, the only region to thrive in all areas of society, including trade, religion, culture, and urban development. Gordon traveled to China to visit the ruins of this age, attempting to depict them and that time in all of their true glory. He focuses on a number of vital aspects of this time period in China, including the trade route known as the Silk Road, and the rapid spread of monasteries throughout the nation. A reviewer for Internet Bookwatch stated that the book offers an "Asian focus unique in the world of Western focuses on exploration."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, June 1, 1995, Frank F. Conlon, review of The Marathas, 1600-1818, p. 931; February 1, 2003, review of Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture, p. 239.

Foreign Affairs, March 1, 2008, Lucian W. Pye, review of When Asia Was the World.

Internet Bookwatch, March 1, 2008, review of When Asia Was the World.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, January 1, 1996, Michael H. Fisher, review of Marathas, Marauders, and State Formation in Eighteenth-Century India, p. 561.

Journal of the American Oriental Society, January 1, 1996, Frank F. Conlon, review of Marathas, Marauders, and State Formation in Eighteenth-Century India, p. 168.

Modern Asian Studies, February 1, 1997, Randolf G.S. Cooper, review of Marathas, Marauders, and State Formation in Eighteenth-Century India, p. 215; February 1, 1997, Randolph G.S. Cooper, review of The Marathas, 1600-1818, p. 215.

Reference & Research Book News, August 1, 2001, review of Robes and Honor, p. 70; May 1, 2008, review of When Asia Was the World.