This is a comprehensive introduction to the key streams of modern historical thought and history-writing in the West and in India. It explores the emergence, growth, climax, and partial decline of modernity in historical thoughts and writings, particularly in Europe and India. It traces the roots of modern historiography to illuminate the transformation that has taken place in history-writing over the centuries. The author outlines the global spread of historiography and provides an account of the impact of colonial experiences and decolonization on modern historiography in different parts of the world. He emphasizes the changing patterns and traditions of history writing in, and the contestations between, Western and non-Western perspectives?especially Indian?with their internal contradictions and confrontations, external associations, and mutual influences over three centuries.