One of the big contentions of popular historian William Dalrymple’s latest book “The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World,” which came out in the United States a few weeks ...

Everyone takes part. The ancient Hindu festival eschews the religious, societal, caste and political divisions that underpin India’s often sectarian society. Hindu or not, anybody can be ...

(Xi Jinping’s reaction was not recorded.) William Dalrymple does not deploy that Sanskrit phrase in “The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World.” But his audacious book’s aim ...

NPR's Scott Simon speaks to historian William Dalrymple about his latest book, "The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World." Before the Silk Road, there was India's Golden Road ...

In 1898, British landowner William Claxton Peppé excavated an ancient funerary monument on his estate in northern India. The site revealed a trove of 1,800 jewels, as well as ash and bone fragments.

His new book is "The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed The World," and William Dalrymple joins us now from Houston on his U.S. book tour. Thanks so much for being with us. WILLIAM ...