Page 38 - Book Reviews

Making India a fraternity

Historian Rajmohan Gandhi's book compels us to contemplate one of the foundational principles enshrined in our Constitution, without which the integrity of the nation can be in jeopardy

Caste in the business of death

Radhika Iyengar's book provides a poignant account of the overlooked 'death-care workers' in Benares, an ancient community relegated to the margins of society

Towards the age of Meta Reason

The Last Dance of Rationality contemplates the rise and fall of rationality, and lays down the contours of a successor regime anchored in consciousness, intuition, awareness and human feeling

A Baghdadi Jew's Israel

Historian Avi Shlaim's memoir challenges the foundational pillars of Israeli society, portraying Zionism as a European construct to which non-European Jews have no affinity

Surveillance: High tech and narcs

Two new books about state surveillance in the 21st century, one focused on China and the other on the United States, make it clear that Foucault was right

Rites of passage

This is a book that deserves to be read widely for the lessons that death can teach the living

The dehumanising factor

Social commentator Ziya Us Salam's book debunks popular myths around history and laments the slow encroachments on Muslim rights by far-right groups, providing truth and hope in the process

Growing roses in concrete

Can people build on skills that are not immediately apparent? Wharton School professor Adam Grant weighs in on the nature vs nurture debate in his book, providing some definitive answers

Putting rural India first

Amarjeet Sinha draws on four decades of work experience as a bureaucrat, offering valuable lessons for effective programme delivery in poverty reduction and gender empowerment in his book

Driving an industry

R C Bhargava's latest book is a step-by-step recounting of the Maruti story, but its real value lies in the many lessons that the story holds both for policymakers as well as manufacturers

The men who made and unmade Twitter

As for Musk, he seemed determined to break things as soon as he entered Twitter's offices carrying a porcelain sink

The bigotry of the victim

This is a disturbing book, and a much-needed one, because the obsession with appearance continues to thrive in spaces where gay men seek romance, sex and companionship

Propaganda vs facts

Three journalists join forces to debunk viral falsehoods on topics like love jihad, population jihad, and forced conversions with straightforward facts in their new book

An anatomy of financial sector reform

The Budget speech of 1991 changed the tone of reforms, but in the decades since, the pace has been more driven by scams and crises than by necessity, argues Rajrishi Singhal in his book

A marked life

A compilation of stories, some autobiographical and some fictional, details the agony of living in the shadows and the genuine challenges of breaking free from one's caste identity

What algorithms can do

From automated trading to shopping, Marek Kowalkiewicz's book explores the far-reaching impacts of algorithms on industries, individuals, and innovation

Immigration crisis, Made in America

Conflicts over immigration often arise from similarity rather than difference, and the strangers at our border have a familiar history that Blitzer tells in meticulous and vivid detail

Unpacking the 'S' word

Though compact, Nalini Rajan's book packs an abundance of deeply researched information, aiming to reinforce one's understanding of secularism

The deadly business of restricting immigration

While xenophobia remains a constant in American life, anti-immigrant policies have consequences beyond borders. Two recent books, spanning different periods in history, illustrate this point

The loneliness of the female athlete

Sohini Chattopadhyay's book brings India's top women athletes to the forefront, providing them with a shared space in history, so that future female athletes won't have to struggle for recognition