Analyzing and recuperating a South Asian aural history through the role of a “citizen-listener” (17) is at the heart of Isabel Alonso's Radio for the Millions: Hindi–Urdu Broadcasting across Borders. This listening-based citizenship, central to Alonso's work, crosses multiple borders—national, linguistic, disciplinary, and cultural. The study provides an extensive overview of South Asian history, additionally revealing the government policies, language changes, and artistic activities conveyed to the masses through Hindi and Urdu radio from the 1940s to the 1980s.

The body of Alonso's book comprises three parts, each containing two chapters. The first part explores the impact of global war on the region and its air waves, including complicated alliances with Axis powers. The second focuses on the development and resistance of a national sound standard in postindependent India and Sri Lanka. The third centers on radio dramas during the 1965 India–Pakistan War and concludes by illuminating radio's ability to bridge geographical and linguistic borders.

Chapter 1 introduces readers to the unique radio environment that emerged throughout undivided India during World War II. Despite the colonial government's efforts to control and outlaw radio ownership and listening, Indian listeners sought news from Axis Radio, which presented a blend of anticolonial rhetoric and misleading pro-Fascist and anti-Semitic narratives (38). Alternatively, they had the option to tune in to the British-controlled All India Radio (AIR), the nation's first integrated radio network, launched in 1936. Alonso vividly depicts how listening to the radio felt like a “fugitive act” (41), with listeners discreetly shutting their windows and turning off their lights before tuning in.

In Chapter 2, Alonso provides a nuanced account of freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, discussing his alliances and views, including his pro-Fascist leanings. Alonso highlights Bose's radio persona, which actively encouraged people to listen to “enemy” (63) radio stations like the British-controlled AIR and BBC. Aims of this practice included gaining insight into the strategies and intentions of British colonizers and supporting anti-colonial efforts. Alonso appropriately terms this practice “listening as defiance” (63), where listening itself became an act of resistance and assisted radio audiences in generating conversations, ideas, and rumors that impacted perceptions of the British.

In Chapters 3 and 4, the author actively explores the development and resistance surrounding national sound standards by focusing on the censorship of Bollywood or Hindi film songs. During the 1950s and 1960s, the two decades following India's independence from British colonization, AIR's radio programs for social upliftment played a crucial role in shaping a Sanskritized, elitist, and anti-Muslim “national culture” (87). These programs aimed to shield listeners from “foreign elements,” including Bollywood songs and music by Muslim artists (100). However, Chapter 4 reveals a collective rejection of these communal government initiatives, as listeners turned to Radio Ceylon for Hindi film songs and programs that were free from religious affiliations and linguistic purity. This chapter challenges the myth that Hindustani language did not persist after Indian independence, highlighting its resonance in the popular realms of Bollywood cinema and Radio Ceylon.

Chapters 5 and 6 shift the focus to Radio Pakistan's role in the 1965 war and the establishment of AIR Urdu service. In this third and final part, Alonso explicates how radio dramas produced during the war stirred listeners’ emotions and patriotism. For example, the radio drama Nidā-e-Haq (Voice of Truth), aired from a Lahore radio station, portrayed Mahashay, a deceitful Indian Hindu character, against Mian, an honest Pakistani Muslim character, creating a powerful narrative focused on cultural differences between the two warring nations. Other artists also contributed to the war efforts through radio dramas and songs. The passionate live performances of actress-singer Nur Jehan over the radio stirred a deep sense of collective pride among millions of Pakistani listeners. Chapter 6 delves into post-1965 Pakistani radio, with the AIR Urdu service targeting Urdu-speaking listening audiences in West Pakistan. The programming of AIR Urdu encompassed news, music, and radio plays, simultaneously preserving Urdu and Hindustani as remnants of pre-Partition days while defying geopolitical borders through sound waves.

Overall, Radio for the Millions presents a vivid portrayal of the “citizen-listener” as an active participant in shaping radio culture, even in the face of personal and political challenges. Significantly, Alonso breaks away from traditional area studies and disciplinary boundaries by focusing on multisensory archives. Drawing from her own experiences growing up on the US–Mexico border, she brings attention to the “sounds of crossing” in South Asia, emphasizing the importance of aural and sensory histories in performance research. This unique and engaging book offers a pleasurable reading experience while providing an urgently needed comprehensive and interdisciplinary history of South Asia.