|
The rise of the
rest
A. J. Philip
The Post-American World
by Fareed Zakaria.
Penguin-Viking. Pages 292. Rs 499.
ONE
significant lesson from the recent Beijing Olympics was that the rise of
China had not been at the expense of the US. While China scored a
perfect century with the maximum gold medals, the US made a larger haul
of 110 medals. If at all any nation had challenged the US supremacy, it
was tiny Jamaica, whose performance in athletics had been nothing but
spectacular.
Keeping
elections fair
J. C. Luther
The Miracle of
Democracy—India’s Amazing Journey
by T.S. Krishnamurthy.
HarperCollins. Pages 243. Rs 395.
IN
the second half of the 20th century, the political history of the world
came to be dominated by the march of democracy despite occasional
setbacks here and there.
Mysticism
and politics
Harbans Singh
Sufism, Culture and
Politics—Afghans and Islam in Medieval North India
by Raziuddin Aquil. Oxford University Press. Pages 268. Rs 595.
EVEN
a casual reader of Indian history does not fail to notice that the
Sultanate period of Indian history suffers in comparison with the Mughal
period.
Flights
of imagination
Ramesh Luthra
No Other World
by Kunwar Narain. Translated by Apurva Narian.
Rupa. Pages 300. Rs 395.
A
collection of the renowned and distinguished living Hindi poet Kunwar
Narian’s poems, translated by Apurva Narian, No Other World, is
an important addition to English literature. The later has made
creditable effort in presenting Kunwar Narian’s poems to all those not
conversant with the vernacular.
Mixed identities
M. Rajivlochan
Transnational South Asians: The Making
of a Neo-Diaspora
Eds. Susan Koshy and R. Radhakrishnan.
Oxford University Press. Pages 378. Rs 695.
THE
twelve essays in this book add to the growing literature on the South
Asian diaspora. But unlike the studies on the diasporic Sikhs, Gujaratis
and Sri Lankans, they are quite wishy-washy.
Reclusive author
Anita Sethi
While writing his new novel,
Nadeem Aslam didn’t see a single person for seven months; his food was left for him when he was
asleep, and he didn’t even realise when it was New Year’s Eve
NADEEM
Aslam is carefully mending a damaged book, the Collected Works of
Intezar Hussein, one of the 200 books he recently posted back from
Pakistan to London. "It’s distressing," he sighs. "The
post office authorities crack the book spines to see that there are no
drugs there. It’s the perfect illustration of what is going on in the
world at the moment. What gets hurt is the beauty of the book. It’s
stories that get hurt."
Booker
short list
Arifa Akbar
JUST
two months after scooping the Best of the Bookers prize, Salman Rushdie
was recently judged to have written a new novel that was "not
enough of a page turner" to even make it on to the award’s
shortlist.
BACK
OF THE BOOK
-
Sarchashma-e-abadi—The
Eternal Spring
by Idrak Bhatty.
Mapin Publishing. Pages 299.
-
Derangements
by Rajorshi Chakraborti.
Harper Collins. Pages 292. Rs 295.
-
Journey Through the
Corridors of Nepal — Foundations of Prosperity Through
Horticulture.
by Gurdeep Singh Randhawa.
Trishul. Pages 144. Rs 575.
|
