In Between Boston and Bombay, scholar of Zoroastrian religion Jenny Rose examines the relationship between two communities separated by vast distance but linked by commerce. Inspired by a visit to Massachusetts historical sites that featured surprising evidence of South Asian influence, Rose began investigating what early Americans knew of the Parsi community in Bombay (Mumbai) and, likewise, what Bombay Parsis knew of their contemporaries in northeastern North America. Her deeply researched book about the “trans-global circulation of goods, capital and ideas between these two cultures” (x) is packed with archival finds, though more diffuse in its findings.
Rose focuses on the period between the American Revolution and the US Civil War, encapsulating the first era of sustained, direct contact between these communities. Throughout this era, Rose argues, Bombay Parsis were critical intermediaries for Americans in Asia, especially British India. But while the “long-lasting commercial alliances” between Americans and Bombay Parsis...