Now available as an updated second edition covering the brutal end of Sri Lanka's civil war and creeping state authoritarianism that has grown in its wake, Sri Lanka in the Modern Age recounts the island's modern history in an accessible yet unconventional manner. While most histories of the country published in the last twenty years have tended to focus on the state's failure to accommodate the needs and demands of minority communities, this book places their claims alongside the political, social and economic demands of other communities, parties, associations and groups, trac--ing their lineages to the colonial period. Drawing from recent works as well as from her own research in the field, Nira Wickramasinghe has written above all a history of the people of Sri Lanka, rather than a history of the nation-state.

"'A work that should be valuable both for the interested lay person and the professional historian.' - Himal Southasian 'For those wanting to understand the origins of the disputes which have kept the island of Sri Lanka in turmoil for the past 35 years, Professor Wickramasinghe has written a packed and comprehensive account of the historical developments which have shaped the nation now known as Sri Lanka.'" - Asian Affairs