Page 11 - Book Reviews

A General's diaries are curated into a breezy military history of India

This book was put together by his grandson, Gaurav Shrinagesh, presumably by curating the late general's diaries and memorabilia

'The Indira Gandhi of AIIMS': Sneh Bhargava's memoir is a compelling read

From hospital politics and clashing egos to difficult politicians and controversial appointments - Sneh Bhargava's memoir lays bare the inner workings of Aiims

Tribals and the Hindutva framework: New book explores RSS's evolving views

From Sarna to Ghar Wapsi, this book breaks new ground on the evolution of RSS's thinking on tribals and complex questions such as their treatment after conversion to Christianity

Bad Company: Megan Greenwell's book explores human cost of private equity

Bad Company details how cliched abstractions like "consolidation" and "efficiency" have given cover to real betrayals

Learning about the Other: The Cave of Echoes swims with own pair of fins

The book operates much like a magic mirror where the glass reflects, not the object, but the viewer's gaze on the object

Kulpreet Yadav's Dial 100: A taut true crime ode to India's overworked cops

Crime is never pleasant to read about or watch - let alone experience. But true stories remind us to stay alert and recognise the warning signs of danger

Rivers as kin, not property: A powerful case for ecological empathy

There is hope that we can conserve what remains and revive what has been lost of our rivers - but it begins with acknowledging that a river is a living, breathing entity

India at WTO: Ably defending the indefensible in trade negotiations

India's WTO negotiators have performed brilliantly in defending the 'perceived' national interest - but did they read the national interest correctly?

Deborah Baker's 'Charlottesville' reveals essence of the new American right

The new American right is a Hydra-headed monster. Mr Trump isn't its cause, but its distilled essence

Tibet at one remove: Little Lhasa maps a people's emotional geography

How, by a historical accident, India, despite her own poverty and exploding population, became an ideal home for exiled Tibetans

Luis Alvarez deserved a livelier biography than Collisions offers

Nevala-Lee recounts succession of events that followed: degrees from University of Chicago and a long, illustrious career, most of it at Berkeley. Alvarez was ambitious, arrogant and often prickly

Thinking Aloud: Jerry Pinto maps identity, cinema, and making of a nation

The three essays that comprise this book are updated versions of talks Pinto delivered at conferences organised by History for Peace, an initiative of The Seagull Foundations for the Arts

Caroline Fraser uncovers a second, darker perp behind US serial killings

Studies are beginning to link childhood lead exposure with aggression, psychopathy and crime. Fascinatingly, all the serial killers in Murderland lived near areas with high lead levels in the air

Phil Craig tracks Allied powers' duplicitous endgame in Asian colonies

Operation Semut typified the Allied betrayal of Atlantic Charter ideals. It's a pity Mr Craig overlooks similar betrayals of the Nagas and others who served the British in the India-Burma theatre

Dalio's debt playbook: What Japan got wrong, and India may be getting right

In 'How Countries Go Broke', the billionaire investor offers a sweeping view of macro cycles and fiscal choices - arguing for 'beautiful deleveraging' as the best path through rising global risk

An early autopsy of capitalism: La Berge dissects the office machine

Set in the years just before the turn of the millennium, it recounts the time La Berge, now a writer and English professor, spent in the corporate world, helping a Fortune 500 company prepare for Y2K

Women see reversal of China's one-child policy as more state pressure

Instead of viewing it as encouragement to have more children, women see the modification in China's one-child policy as government pressure to reverse the declining birth rate

Iran's grieving mothers' ties have been a political force to reckon with

An interesting aspect of the rebellion in Iran is the power of mourning mothers. Since the 1980s, kinship among grieving mothers has been a driver of political engagement

A K Bhattacharya's third book on India's FMs captures the post-reform era

Typically, by the third sequel, authors tend to lose energy, but not A K Bhattacharya. He enjoys reporting the joys and pains of India's finance ministers too much

The New Age of Sexism: Laura Bates' latest book exposes online misogyny

Feminist activist Laura Bates turns her investigative lens on the insidious spread of online misogyny - now assuming new virtual avatars, yet still rooted in age-old patriarchal violence