For those studying the enormous cast of characters that populate Indian history of the 16th and 17th centuries, there are further reasons to worry. The field now threatens to implode, with a fascinating group of foreigners masquerading as Indians coming to light. The vicissitudes of their struggle to exist in India simultaneously as insiders and outsiders, as foreign and native, is the focus of Jonathan Gil Harris’s tour de force, the verbosely titled The First Firangis: Remarkable stories of heroes, healers, charlatans, courtesans & other foreigners who became Indian. click here to read more..