Mahatma’s pivotal failure
Gurpreet Maini
Gandhi and the Partition of India: A Perspective
by Kamran Shahid Ferozsons Pvt. Ltd., Lahore. Pages 181. Rs 250.
A nation has evolved or developed in absolute terms, if its history has moved forward, essentially when hagiography is shunned and objectivity surfaces in historical analysis of prominent leaders. In India, this gradual process of getting more mature over the years evinces in the attitudinal changes among contemporary historians as well as the media.

Understanding the Taliban
Syed Nooruzzaman
 The Rise, Fall and Resurgence of the Taliban
by Happymon Jacob, ORF- Samskriti Publications. Pages 137. Rs 225.
VERY few people believed that the Taliban, primarily a movement of madarsa students, would survive the combined onslaught of the US-led multinational forces in the wake of the terrorist attack on New York’s trade towers and the Pentagon in Washington. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan did collapse, but that was obvious. Most of those running the administration were killed or captured.

Confetti

Just too sketchy
Kanwalpreet
Biographical Sketches of Modern Indian Historic Personalities, 18th-19th Centuries AD
by Rattan Amol Singh Sidhu. Unistar Publications, Chandigarh. Pages 155. Rs 295.
THIS book claims to trace out important activities of all personalities of the 18th and 19th centuries. The author has tried to include the acts of personalities who were "kings and generals of their times". However, going through the book only confuses the reader.

young fare
The bounds of the
boundless
Amarinder Sandhu
Island of Infinity: Marina’s Dream
by Anuradha Majumdar. Puffin. Pages 300. Rs 250.
Summer holidays at last. Goodbye to all the schoolbooks. Meet the siblings, Marina and Gautam. Marina is the perpetual dreamer, while her brother, Gautam, is on the lookout for the real pirates. They have come down to Kodai to spend their vacations with Grandpa Narayan, a famous geologist who can make a simple stone appear as the most marvelous thing on Earth.

Double dilemma
The Royal Nepal Army Meeting the Maoist Challenge
by Ashok K Mehta Rupa with ORF Pages 110. Rs 295.
THIS book brings to the fore a number of issues that need to be deliberated by those interested in Nepal, and particularly its emergence as a multi-party democracy. The Himalayan Kingdom is caught in an inescapable conflict between the Maoists and the Royal Nepal Army.

Think differently, take more risks
Priyanka Singh
Smart Leadership: Insights for CEOs
by Gita Piramal and Jennifer Netarwala Penguin. Pages 207. Rs 325.
Innovation, by definition, requires people who think differently. People who are not afraid to fail. If you are really structured ...and follow rules and regulations, then the room for innovation is very little, says Sam Pitroda, while emphasising the cardinal rule of incessant innovation, the absence of which could sound the death knell for a business.

Unfulfilled love
Byron’s loves and life has been of abiding interest to all and not only men of letters, writes Raj Chatterjee
THAT genius has a close affinity with promiscuity is the impression one gathers on reading the biographies of men and women whose names will, nonetheless be revered as long as lesser mortals retain the capacity to admire a great painting, be awed by the magic of words or be transported to celestial heights listening to the music composed by an acknowledged virtuoso.

Crime and punishment
Jason Bennetto
HIS gritty detective novels have sold an estimated 17 million copies worldwide, yet the Scottish writer Ian Rankin believes that "literary snobs" turn up their noses when it comes to crime fiction. The Edinburgh-based author and creator of the hugely successful John Rebus books has lambasted critics who ignore the crime genre.

SHORT TAKES
Interpreting Valmiki Ramayana
Randeep Wadehra

  • Through the Eagle’s Eye
    by MB Lal Pages 144. Rs. 100

  • Tea and Health
    by N. Ghosh Hajra UBSPD, N. Delhi. Pages: xvi+161. Rs 195.

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