Sunday, September 30, 2001		Books

Germany through the centuries
Review by Parshotam Mehra
The Course of German History: A Survey of the Development of German History since 1815
by A.J.P. Taylon. Routledge Classics Imprint, London. Pages XXI + 281. Rs 281.
THE 16-state European Union with France and German as its most important constituents bids fair to become a new political entity that seeks to merge the identity of its individual members into a larger whole. And envisages in terms of the decade-old Mastricht Treaty (1991), and the not-unforeseeable future, a common foreign and security policy apart from a common economic, interior and justice policy.

Gender difference that still persists
Review by Roopinder Singh
Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps. How We Are Different and  What to do about it
by Allan and Barbara Pease. Manjul Publishing House, Bhopal. Pages 300. Rs 195.
WE are different. We know that, but we just can’t say it-anyone who does is not politically correct (PC). But, here we have a book the title of which is provocative enough to make readers come out of the grey PC veil and reach out to grab the book.

PUNJABI LITERATURE
Written with prejudice
Review by Jaspal Singh
GURBACHAN, after his retirement from Delhi University, has turned out to be one of the most prolific writers in Punjabi. Apart from writing a regular column for a Jalandhar based literary magazine "Lakeer", he has published four books - "Sahitnama", "Sahit de Sikandar", "Kis kis taran de Sikandar" and "Parsang dar parsang" in a couple of years or so. In addition, two more books "Maha yatra" and "Innah mundian jaldi mar jana" are in the pipeline.

Defusing South Asian tensions
Review by Ivninderpal Singh
Nuclear and Missile Race in South Asia: Relevance of Military Restructuring
by Vinay Kumar Malhotra. Wisdom House Publications Ltd., England. Pages 144. Rs 225.
TWENTY-FOUR years after taking the first major step towards demonstrating its nuclear capability, India displayed its nuclear prowess once again in May, 1998, by successfully conducting five nuclear tests at Pokhran. Pakistan gave a fitting and timely response by exploding five nuclear devices, the country’s first-ever nuclear tests.

New perspective on Sikh studies
Review by Surinder S. Jodhka
Sikh Religion, Culture and Ethnicity
by Christopher Shackle, Gurharpal Singh and Arvind-pal Singh Mandair. Curzon Press, Richmond, Surrey. Pages ix+220.
THE events of the 1980s generated a good deal of academic interest in Punjab and the Sikh community. It was not only in India that a large volume of social scientific literature was produced on the "crisis" in the region, in the western academia also Sikh/Punjab studies came to be recognised as a distinct area of inquiry. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the new academic interest in Sikh studies in the West has been the active role being played by the diasporic Sikhs.

Two views on globalisation
Review by D.R. Chaudhry
On The Edge — Living with Global Capitalism
edited by Will Hunton and Anthony Giddens. Vintage, London. Pages xxii + 242. £ 8.99.
THE book under review opens with "Anthony Giddens and Will Hunton in Conversation". It is a 51-page-long dialogue. In the beginning it gives the hope of a free-wheeling intellectual encounter between an unabashed supporter of globalisation and a strong admirer of the American system (Anthony Giddens) and one who is highly sceptical of the steamroller effects of globalisation and deeply critical of the role of USA as its leader (W. Hunton).

Simple rules of business management
Review by Chandra Mohan
The Power of Simplicity
by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin. Tata McGraw Hill, Bombay. Pages 205. Rs 225
THE latest buzz-words, fancy pictograms and charts by the mile have virtually become standard fare of modern management literature. Trout is great and merciful, he goes in the reverse direction. He reduces management to basics and in easy-to-understand lingo. Average, run-of-the-mill fellow humans invariably constitute most organisations, not Newtons or Einsteins.

Well begun is only half done
Review by Priyanka Singh
The Web of Silk and Gold
by Shakti Niranjchana. Pages 201. Rs 200.
"THE Web of Silk and Gold" is Canada-based Shakti Niranjchana’s first novel. The story which is good in parts, especially the first half, revolves around the trials of Aradhana, the youngest of three daughters of an extremely affluent family which sets a great store by traditional values, social practices and patriarchal authority.

Basic ingredient of life and happiness
Review by Kuldip Kalia
For the soul: Love; a book on self-empowerment
compiled by M.M. Walia. Sterling Publishers, New Delhi. Pages 63. Price not mentioned.
CAN you think of life without love? Is love the ultimate reality? Truly speaking, love is an intrinsic part of life. It is the foundation of human existence. It is universal and eternal. It is more than goodwill. Neither it is limited to human being nor does true love depend on persons and circumstances. It is based on a "give and take" policy. In fact it is in harmony with psychic and spiritual elements.