Books

Evocative epic

Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten by Rajmohan Gandhi; Aleph; Price: Rs.695; 432 pp

Rajmohan Gandhi is the paternal grandson of the Mahatma, and maternal grandson of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, the first Indian governor-general of independent India. Few Indians have such a distinguished lineage. That should have been the ideal stepping stone to politics. Though he unsuccessfully […]

Books

Terrorism politics

The Way of the Knife: The Untold Story of USA’s Secret War by Mark Mazzetti; Penguin Books; Price: Rs.499; 379 pp

“No longer a traditional espionage service devoted to stealing the secrets of foreign governments, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has become a killing machine, an organisation consumed with manhunting… Prior to the attacks of September 11 […]

Books

Sweeping narrative

The Wisdom of Ants: A Short History of Economics by Shankar Jaganathan; Westland Tranquebar; Price: Rs.295; 366 pp

This is a truly extraordinary book — a disciplined effort of scholarship and research written in an engaging style — which all individuals interested in the complex and often confusing subject that is economics, should read.

The chief merit of […]

Books

Celebrity insider’s narrative

Durbar by Tavleen Singh; Hachette India; Price: Rs.599; 312 pp

The Delhi Gymkhana, perhaps the most elitist and pretentious club in the country, invariably presided over by defence service chiefs, and top retired civil servants, has an intellectual facade in the form of a book club. Every month the club management selects a recently published book and […]

Books

Debasing novel

Sethji by Shobhaa De; Penguin Books; Price: Rs.250; 287 pp

In the preface to this high octane exposé of Indian politics, Shobhaa De, the celebrated founder-editor of Stardust and Celebrity magazines, is described as the author of 17 books including bestsellers such as Socialite Evenings, Starry Nights, Spouse and Superstar India. Books authored by her include […]

Books

First imperial defeat

Return of a King — The Battle for Afghanistan 1839-1842 by William Dalrymple; Bloomsbury; Price: Rs.799; 602 pp

The mountain nation of Afghanistan (pop. 30 million) — less a nation than a conglomeration of mutually antagonistic tribes which unite only when invaded by foreign armies — has proved to be a graveyard of mighty powers. Primitive and […]

Books

Brilliant essays

Patriots and Partisans by Ramachandra Guha; Penguin Books; Price: Rs.699; 334 pp

Following India after Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy (2007) and the Makers of Modern India (2012), sociologist, historian and quintessential liberal intellectual Ramachandra Guha’s latest gift to the nation is Patriots and Partisans, a collection of 15 fluent, insightful essays on human and political conditions within […]

Books

Extraordinary opus

Music of the Spinning Wheel by Sudheendra Kulkarni; Amaryllis Publishers; Price: Rs.795; 725 pp

A journalist-columnist and occasional spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and currently chairman of the Ambani-funded Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai, Sudheendra Kulkarni was a prominent figure in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, which ruled in Delhi between 1998-2004. As special aide […]

Books

Shocking contrast

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling; Little Brown Book Group; Price: Rs.850; 503 pp

J. K. Rowling, the 47-year-old British novelist best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series, is a unique phenomenon. She failed to get admission to Oxford and had to settle for Exeter University. She was on social security in her thirties […]

Books

Obama vs. Osama

The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden by Mark Bowden; Atlantic Monthly Press; Price: Rs.299; 288 pp

In October 2002, a then little-known Illinois senator denounced the White House’s plan to invade Iraq, saying: “I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars… You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight […]

Books

Contrarian history

From the Ruins of Empire by Pankaj Mishra; Penguin; Price: Rs.699; 356 pp

This is truly an extraordinary book of scholarship and history. It prompts reflections on several unanswered questions which have haunted the minds of all right thinking people of India, indeed Asia. Foremost among them is how and why did the British and other imperial […]

Books

Unique insider’s memoir

Beyond the Lines by Kuldip Nayar; Roli Books; Price: Rs.595; 420 pp

One of the few positive developments in these depressing times is the coming of age of India’s book publishing industry. Within the past decade, this industry has evolved with the ready publication of memoirs and autobiographies of captains of industry, political leaders and activists positioned […]

Books

Honest epitaph

A Grain of Sand in the Hourglass of Time by Arjun Singh; Hay House; Price: Rs.599; 379 pp

A welcome and historically valuable development in Indian publishing is the practice of industry leaders teaming up with professional journalists and writers to pen their memoirs, giving a diversity of perspectives on the history of our times. Although inevitably […]

Books

Fascinating investigation

Breakout Nations by Ruchir Sharma; Penguin Books; Price: Rs.599; 292 pp

Why are some societies and nations just, egalitarian and prosperous while the majority aren’t? In a world awash with money yet paradoxically afflicted with poverty, injustice, inequality and inhumanity, India-born New York-based Ruchir Sharma, manager of the emerging markets and equities portfolio of the global investment […]

Books

True hero

Whatever the Odds by K.P. Singh with Ramesh Menon & Raman Swamy; HarperCollins; Price: Rs.699; 323 pp

One of the reasons why post-independence India’s nefarious licence-permit-quota regime has flourished for over 60 years and counting, is that businessmen and industry leaders who have experienced its most egregious excesses, don’t write memoirs and autobiographies. If towards the end […]

Books

Balanced perspective

Nonstop India by Mark Tully; Penguin Books; Price: Rs.499; 257 pp

Sir Mark Tully is perhaps the most well-known and distinguished ‘foreigner’ living in India. Born in Calcutta, he has made India his home and speaks fluent Hindi. For 22 years he was the BBC’s chief of bureau in New Delhi. Tully was knighted in 2002 and […]

Books

Unflinching examination

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo; Penguin; Price: Rs.499; 254 pp

Arguably the world’s most examined and analysed urban conglomeration, the western India city of Mumbai aka ‘slumbai’, because half its population lives in degrading squalor which would have challenged the descriptive powers of novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870), whose emotional evocations of the wretched slums of […]

Books

Valuable scholarship

Feminism in Islam: Secular and Religious Convergences by Margot Badran; Oneworld Publications, Oxford; Price: Rs.1,500; 349 pp

Even as almost everyone recalls a horror story about the misery and isolation of women in almost all countries of the Muslim world — and barbarous punishment claimed to be mandated by shariat law — there’s no shortage of books, […]

Books

Promising debut

Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey through Islamic Lands by Aatish Taseer; Picador; Price: Rs.495; 323 pp

Post 9/11 amidst the rise of global Islamic terrorism, interpreting and explaining radical Islam and its fanatical followers has emerged as a major industry which has kept printing presses humming. Yet most of the rash of analyses of militant Islam […]

Books

Red Corridor essays

Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country by Sudeep Chakravarti; Penguin Viking; Price: Rs.499; 352 pp

Described as “India’s single biggest internal security challenge” by prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2004, the silent Naxalite revolution is one of India’s worst kept secrets. Although the Naxalite footprint — indeed raj — now covers 165 of the country’s 630 districts, […]

Books

Clash of titans

Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age by Arthur Herman; Bantam Books; Price: $30; 609 pp

Two icons — master spirits of the first half of the 20th century who changed the course of world history — are profiled by historian Arthur Herman who has conceptualised this book as a […]

Books

Important harbinger

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson; McGraw-Hill; Price: $32.95 (Rs.1,615); 288 pp

One of the greatest virtues of this book is that it has not been authored by education professors. This may seem an uncharitable way to begin a book […]

Books

Lost tribes of America

Gullah Culture in America by Wilbur Cross; Price: Rs.2,500; Praeger Publishers; 270 pp

The popular global perception of the United States is of a multicultural, prosperous and hardworking society, with little time for history, environment or preservation of its cultural heritage. This impression is not entirely accurate, as there are numerous government and private organisations and foundations […]

Books

Suicide antidote

A Hike for Mike: An Uplifting Adventure Across the Sierra Nevada for Depression Awareness by Jeff Alt; Dreams Shared Publications; Price: Rs.703; 198 pp

It’s not the best of times. around the world people live in desperate fear of indiscriminate terror strikes, suicide bombings, economic meltdowns, crashing currencies and stockmarkets. These are only some of the new […]

Books

Enlightening anthology

Aids Sutra: Untold Stories from India; Random House India; Price: Rs.395; 334 pp

This anthology of impactful essays with an introduction by Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, is supported by Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It strings together 16 high profile writers, who attempt to provide insights into the […]

Books

Weak defence

Leading From The Front by Col. S.P. Wahi; Sterling Publishers; Price: Rs.695; 266 pp

From the viewpoint of the energy security of the country, it is India’s most important company. Yet there is a curious conspiracy of silence on the failure of the public sector ONGC Ltd (formerly the Oil & Natural Gas Commission) to deliver its […]