Explores the complicated Cold War relationship between the US and the newly independent India of Jawaharlal Nehru from the perspective of culture, the influence of which, the author argues, cannot be shrugged off by policymakers and diplomats any more than by the rest of the population. As creatures of culture, their attitudes cannot help but shape the policies they make. To define those attitudes, Andrew J. Rotter consults government documents along with the memoirs of those involved in the events of the day, literature, art and mass media. While expanding knowledge about the creation and implementation of democracy, Rotter carries his analysis across the categories of race, class, gender, religion and culturally infused practices of governance, strategy and economics. Americans saw Indians as superstitious, unclean, treacherous, lazy and prevaricating. Indians regarded Americans as arrogant, materialistic, uncouth, profane and violent. Yet, in spite of these stereotypes, Rotter notes the mutual recognition of profound similarities between the two groups as "comrades at odds".