Power, upfront and personal

It is hard to summarise the riches in the book and the layers of insight into India's society, economy and politics

Those of us who were old enough to be able to read newspapers in the 1970s and 1980s are lucky. It was an era in Indian journalism that was unique: Vigorous, strong, unwavering, and lustily celebrating liberal democracy. At a time when India was Indira and Indira was India, almost all journalists saw themselves as urban Naxals: Hell, they revelled in the description. The leader of the pack was Arun Shourie, who steered The Indian Express over two stints in various capacities.