At first glance, it is not much of a library: two shelves of about 1,600 books and magazines in a basement room deep into a dusty alley of adobe homes in rural Panjwai District, in southern Afghanistan. The mattresses and blankets stacked in the corner still give the vibe of the guest quarters the room once was.But the register shows how parts of the community here, particularly younger residents, have come to value any chance to indulge their curiosity, in a place that was at the heart of the original Taliban uprising in the 1990s and became a watchword for the tragedy and deprivation brought by war.Hassanullah, 18, checked out General History. Muhammad Rahim, 27, came for The Fires of Hell, which he returned the next day; it was soon borrowed by a 12-year-old named Nabi. Taher Agha, 15, preferred Of Love and the Beloved, keeping it for 10 days. Another young man, about to marry, called ahead to make sure there was a copy of Homemaking. He rode his bicycle six miles to pick it up.The

For the love of reading

At the heart of David Lockwood's brilliant study of the Communist Party of India (CPI)'s support for the Emergency is the question

The CPI's Emergency stumble

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Shrabani Basu's book For King and Another Country brings the war to life through six soldiers, three Maharajas, two airmen and a cleaner

Indian soldiers in the Great War

Alec Ross provides an array of exciting facts "for those who would be interested to know how the next wave of globalisation will affect our society and ourselves"

Future shocks: the algorithm is out there

According to Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith in Blood Brothers, the chrysalis was Mr Muhammad Ali's intense but tragic friendship with Malcolm X

Frenemies in the Nation of Islam

Tribesmen from Harrapath in Chhattisgarh

The author reviews three works of fiction that capture the dislocating realities for communities and people when the state treats them as the 'other'

Citizens of a lesser god

Management literature is desperately searching for excellence again

The rise of insta-management

In his new novel, I Hate the Internet, Jarett Kobek performs a similar manoeuvre on the viscera of the American psyche, at least as regards the so-called information highway

A world without the internet

1962: The War That Wasn't makes an honest attempt to understand the events that led up to the clash

1962 revisited

Marion Nestle's Soda Politics on how to fight behemoth that is the soft drink industry and achieving that feat of registering a win for good health advocates is timely

The bitter fight over sugary drinks

Richard Engel's harrowing adventures make for gripping reading in his new book and he deftly uses them as a portal to look at how West Asia has changed since he arrived in the region as a young reporter in 1996

West Asia, up close and personal

This expansive anthology of essays and rare photographs by one of India's leading wildlife experts is a monumental ode to the country's avian diversity

The secret lives of birds

The 33-year-old Mr Wood, a former British Army paratrooper, is a full-time travel writer who draws inspiration from Kipling's stories, and from T E Lawrence, Francis Younghusband and David Livingstone

A multi-cultural walk in the Himalayas

In Fixed!, journalist Shantanu Guha Ray examines the allegations of corruption levelled against players, cricket administrators and bookies in the last two decades

Cricket in a fix

Janam Mukherjee revisits that tragedy of 1943 in Hungry Bengal: War, Famine and the End of Empire, this time determined to refocus the chronological lens

The Bengal Famine retold

The Profiteers, a history of the Bechtel Corporation, one of the world's largest construction companies

Bechtel & crony capitalism

Ramayana to be made in English

Three young filmmakers from the US want to recreate the Indian mythological story, to cater to the global audience.

Press Trust of India

David Bowie performing "Rebel Rebel" on the Dutch TV show, TopPop, in 1974

Bowie receives the Webby Lifetime Achievement award in 2007

Bowie launches into his first solo song of a six-week concert tour of North America in 1995

He redefined 1970s pop/rock culture via his multiple personalities, says the author, but this biography does little to enlighten readers about this elusive persona

Who really was David Bowie?

Looking Back at Macroeconomics 101 is a collection of Alok Sheel's articles in leading Indian financial dailies over the years

Revisiting the global financial crisis

Europe in Emerging Asia, edited by Fredrik Erixon and Krishnan Srinivasan, is a challenging assignment

Emerging Asia: Has Europe missed the bus?

In The Ballad of Bant Singh: A Qissa of Courage, author grabs reader by the hand and takes her into the world of Bant Singh, a Mazhabi Sikh, a member of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha

A Dalit's legendary struggle

Book News: Check out for latest book news, reviews, book launches and more on Business Standard. Explore now for new books reviews along with books writers and novel reviews and more.

Books News: Latest Book, Book Reviews, Book Features, Book Launches | Business Standard

Check out for latest book reviews, book launches and more on Business Standard. Explore now for new books reviews along with books writers and novel reviews and more.

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