Page 34 - Book Reviews

A complex region encounters bigotry and prejudice

Robert Kaplan's latest book aims to offer a fresh survey of the 'Greater Middle East', but in doing so, it grossly simplifies complex political issues, reflecting American interests and prejudices

Hinduism: The past in the present

Political discourse on religion has been tainted by extreme views from all sides, both those praising its virtues and those condemning its faults, writes veteran politician Karan Singh in his book

Health for humanity

As health anxieties rise, K Srinath Reddy's book explores linkages between health and biology, geography, economic means, and social stature, offering useful insights

Hitchens: The art of the polemicist

Much of Hitchens's fugitive material has made its way into print, sometimes in block-size collections

Kashmir's flawed hero

Chitralekha Zutshi's book on Sheikh Abdullah is outstanding, and there is much to learn for readers irrespective of their political affiliations

Why American democracy is not in decline

Jill Lepore's collection of essays takes readers on a guided tour through the rise and presumed decline of the US, with Trump emerging as the ultimate object of the author's scorn

Young and marginalised

Why should older people in politics make room for younger ones to take on the reins? Sudhanshu Kaushik's book delves into this and more to explore the indifference of the youth towards politics

Sam the brave

As the nation experiences a resurgence of nationalism, a biography of Manekshaw by his aides-de-camp is poised to resonate widely

War and empires

Today's anti-"woke" warriors in Congress likely would be surprised by the Boston University anthropologist Thomas Barfield's insightful Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History

The forgotten revolutionary

The background of Rash Behari Bose bore none of the marks of privilege and distinction that were so prominent in the career of Subhas Chandra

India's growth story: A question of answers

Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba advocate a new growth path for India, rejecting the China model and promoting a strategy anchored in human capital development, and a robust political economy

The other side of the technological revolutions

This book is a necessary antidote to the poisonous rhetoric of tech inevitability that promotes 'winner-take all' technologie

The pioneering prose of a New Journalist

Joan Didion was so much more than the sum of these parts, as this latest biography by Evelyn McDonnell, demonstrates

Teachable moments in unrestrained capitalism

The book is an intriguing study of a company that promised to revolutionise Indian education but ended up dealing a massive blow to the very sector of which it was seen as a leader

Getting away from it all

And now lands Airplane Mode, by Shahnaz Habib, a lively and, yes, wide-ranging book that interrogates some of the pastime's conventions and most prominent chroniclers

Geo-economics on the frontline

Exploring the intersection of technology and geopolitics, When the Chips are Down delves into the critical role of semiconductors in this evolving high-stakes dynamic

Making sustainable business work

In an age of 'greenwashing', Esha Chhabra's book is a wake-up call, reminding us that sustainability is a practical possibility

Emperors in their labyrinths

Mary Beard's book may not change conventional notions of imperial Rome, but it does prompt a cautious reevaluation of the simplistic view of imperial personalities

Pranab: A filial perspective

Pranab Mukherjee's daughter shares an unputdownable account of her father's diary - filled with entertaining anecdotes, priceless stories, and some controversial perspectives

Weirdos of the cosmos

This stands in stark contrast to the way many of us regard the stars. We like contemplating them for precisely the opposite reason