Page 18 - Book Reviews

Raisina Chronicles: A public square for global dialogue and debate

This collection of essays by world leaders offers rich insights into key priorities in specific geographies and across the world

Tales of influence, ambition: 3 books about tech, politics and big business

Germany's big businesses profited thanks to their collaboration, and after the war most executives escaped blame, keeping much of the plundered wealth even after millions died

The Feminisms of Our Mothers: How one woman's step sparked progress

This anthology successfully subverts the social dynamics of men and women in patriarchy, and centres women as the subjects of their exploration

Foreign policy in Amrit Kaal: 75 key events, limited fresh insight

Harsh Pant and Anant Singh Mann draw on 75 years of history to chart India's foreign policy course for the next 25

The true value of a book really lies in what the reader takes from it

If leaders read this book, reflect upon the contents, relate the lessons to their own experiences, and hold tight to their NI (natural intelligence), they increase their odds of success

Indian policing and the legacy of violence: A call for urgent reform

Has the dehumanisation of the police worsened their violence? Deana Heath and Jinee Lokaneeta explore this through political and sociological lenses, calling for urgent reform

Hayek's Bastards: Far Right's love-hate relationship with globalisation

The economic ideas that are predicated on such a worldview are inevitably ruthless and cutthroat

Anirudh Kanisetti's 'Lords of Earth and Sea' explores legacy of the Cholas

Beyond the lively empire-building narrative, Kanisetti offers a sobering portrait of medieval society built on slaves, the exploitation of women

Poonam Agarwal's book 'India Inked' decodes India's electoral practices

Poonam Agarwal offers an excellent account of the supposedly politics-agnostic electoral bonds for anyone wanting to understand how a part of India's election system works - and how it is undermined

How meritocracy manages to mask the rise of inherited wealth and privilege

Why meritocracy is insufficient to get rid of inequity

'Letters from Gaza' offers a ringside view of the human cost of endless war

Each piece of prose or poetry conjures images of a complete lack of normalcy in any form. But they are beautifully written, evocatively descriptive and emotionally rich

'Voice for the Voiceless' explores the Dalai Lama's Tibetan destiny

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, has written a book that demands to be read cover to cover - especially by those who feel let down by his perceived softness towards the Chinese government

Fall of Biden: A tragic chronicle of ignored warnings and missteps

In his lively, engaging but sometimes frustrating chronicle of the 2024 presidential election campaign, Chris Whipple records the incredulity of one of those at the gathering

Sumana Roy's book traces Bengal writers' empathy with plants, objects

Phloem plays a similar role for Plant Thinkers of Twentieth-Century Bengal

K V Prasad's book explores Parliament's role in shaping foreign policy

K V Prasad's book examines Parliamentary debates on major foreign policy issues in independent India, as well as in the Constituent Assembly, to assess Parliament's role in shaping foreign policy

Exploring caste, Ayurveda, communism via biographies of forgotten rebels

A biography of four individuals who broke new ground in pre-Independence India but later faded into obscurity brings to life their divergent imaginations of Hindi-Hindu nationhood

Non-alignment: Conception versus praxis in Nehru's Cold War legacy

Non-alignment in popular parlance was understood as a foreign policy of rejecting a subordinate ally status in either the ideological and military bloc headed by the US or that led by the Soviet Union

The Beatlemania duet: Ian Leslie's book traces John and Paul's epic journey

Leslie, a British journalist and author, has a deep affection for, and a penetrating understanding of, these complex characters and their unprecedented friendship

The Thinking Machine: Tracing AI's rise from gaming to Nvidia's vision

Huang doesn't offer the author much on how his upbringing may have led to his current status as a technology apex predator

Gujarat's 19 century trailblazer: 'My Truth' revives legacy of Veer Narmad

Narmad was, thus, our very own Samuel Johnson, besides being his own James Boswel as well! The Narmad-Johnson comparison goes deep