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Rediscovering
Marx
Two of the leading thinkers
of our time put forward the idea of a collective leadership that
allows the rich diversity of radical and socialist traditions
From Marxism to Post-Marxism?
By Goran Therborn.
Verso, London. Pages 194. £14.99.
How to Change the World
By Eric Hobsbawm.
Little, Brown, London. Pages 470. £25.
Reviewed by Shelley Walia
THE
insistence that the egalitarian project of the Left was a product of a
specific historical epoch and that it now has no place in a
"post-socialist" world is a serious allegation. There are
adherents to the idea of the end of history among thinkers of the
Right and the Left who pin their hopes on the nation or the
proletariat in different ways, and conflate the apparent collapse of a
particular historical project with the collapse of history itself.
Insightful
history
On China
By Henry Kissinger.
Allen Lane, London.
Pages 586. Rs 899.
Reviewed by Parshotam Mehra
Henry
Kissinger is a name to reckon with and not only because under
the easily forgotten US President Nixon (1968-74), best remembered as
"tricky Dick", he served as his country’s National
Security Advisor and Secretary of State. A prolific writer, Kissinger
has almost a score of books to his credit.
The
magic of technique
Form and Style in Indian
English Fiction
By Jagdish Batra.
Prestige Books.
Pages 190. Rs 600.
Reviewed by Rajbir Deswal
STYLE
studies in English fiction, besides the theme, do exist in the
contemporary fiction analysis scenario, but only so far as the West is
concerned. In case of Indian English novels, there is acute dearth of
such content on the library racks and catalogues.
Repository
of Sikh ethos
Turn of the Century: Sikh
Concerns and Responses
By Kharak Singh.
Singh Brothers, Amritsar.
Pages 514. Rs 650.
Reviewed by Kanwalpreet
Kharak
Singh had been involved in dealing with contemporary Sikh
issues during his lifetime. He died on August 6, 2008, having written
various articles and held seminars to highlight issues that have
proved to be challenging to the Sikh community.
Anna
advantage
Vishal Gulati
Anna inspires sale of books on
his guiding light, Swami Vivekananda
THE
man who is galvanising an entire nation against graft was himself
inspired by a Hindu monk, who preached the message of Indian
spirituality to the world. Books on Swami Vivekanada are flying off
the shelves in Himachal Pradesh after Anna Hazare repeatedly referred
to the philosopher-saint as the guiding light of his life.
Reading of renewal
Rebirth is about the resilience and beauty of
the human spirit
Assam-born
writer Jahnavi Barua, whose debut novel Rebirth is an intimate
portrait of the passionate bond between a mother and her unborn child,
sees her work as an account of resilience and beauty of the human
spirit.
From
the feminists
Arifa Akbar
I
remember going to the launch
of one of Shere Hite's sex surveys which focussed on female desire,
and being stunned not by what she said but by the precipitous heels.
It looked like a book launch that could burst into burlesque at any
moment.
Back
of the book
The Storyteller of
Marrakesh
By Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya.
Tranquebar.
Pages 341. Rs 495.
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