Page 87 - Book Reviews

Law and disorder

Though well-written, Cult of Glory isn't a book for the fainthearted

The renewed interest in a widely acclaimed book on 'bullshit jobs'

A widely acclaimed book on 'bullshit jobs' is at the centre of renewed interest ever since the Covid-19-induced lockdown shone a spotlight on the nature of 'essential services'

Negotiating with empathy

The book's style is simple and the suggestions it contains are eminently practicable

Facts and monocracy

As a country like Viktor Orban's Hungary shows, autocracy can thrive on corruption and soft oppression

A novel presages a dystopian world from a pandemic worse than Covid-19

The End of October, published this April, has at its centre a fictional virus sweeping across the world, forcing people to live under indefinite lockdown, and pushing the global economy disaster.

The politics of the kitchen sink

Sally Howard blends qualitative research, academic literature, pop culture and history with her own lived experience to bring politics to where it truly belongs-the kitchen sink

The Flywheel of Jeff Bezos

You cannot build a business that touches hundreds of millions of lives and thousands of companies and become the richest man on earth without attracting attention

A neo-con rethinks

Are we in danger of a crisis that will shatter our brilliant experiment in self-government? And, if so, what can we do about it?

Gunjan Veda's book seeks to break caste through sunlit stories from India

Author Gunjan Veda confronts her own prejudices in the hesitant but brave epilogue of her book The Museum of Broken Tea Cups: Postcards from India's Margins

Maharashtra's autumn of discontent

This is why Kamlesh Sutar's book on the 36-day drama in Maharashtra, that eventually led to the installation of Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister

Dislocation and mental health

It underlines the impact of displacement, communal violence, and the trust deficit on individuals across time and borders

Durable relevance of Keynes

The Price of Peace, Zachary D Carter's outstanding new intellectual biography of John Maynard Keynes, offers a resonant guide to our current moment

Devdutt Pattanaik's new book overlooks questionable aspects of Hinduism

A readable account of a devotee and mythologist's visit to 32 sites overlooks or romanticises several questionable aspects of Hinduism, writes Chintan Girish Modi

The brutal face of peacekeeping

What are the power dynamics between peacekeepers from various cultural backgrounds sent to a conflict zone, and the locals they are supposed to protect?

The promised conquered land

Mr Khalidi has written a sharply analytical and even-handed history of the nature of the Israeli state that would make educative reading even for Israel's supporters

Wuhan's eerie precedent

Fang Fang captures the shock and panic at the start of the quarantine

Why India's inequality is a policy choice, argues Capital and Ideology

In the debate over inequality, caste has played a key role. Instead, an ambitious agrarian reform, backed by a more redistributive tax system would have been more helpful, argues Thomas Piketty

Sports books to keep you going while you wait for the real action to resume

If you're done with endless TV re-runs of classic matches, Dhruv Munjal offers a choice of entertaining sports books to keep you going.

It's still a man's world

Our data collection methods have been skewed because over time, men have come to be considered as the default while the female gender has rarely been taken into account

Nancy Pelosi, underrated talent

There is a pattern in Pelosi, Molly Ball's admiring and illuminating new biography of the most powerful woman in American politics