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Globalisation on trial
Rumina Sethi
Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of
the Globalization Debate.
by Naomi Klein. Flamingo, London. Pages 256. $ 13.
THE remarkable adulation for Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel
Prize winner for Economics and champion of globalisation, at Oxford last
month made it amply clear what Europe's perspective towards global
economics was. Although one of his Tanner Lectures focused on the ethics
(or lack of it) involved in urging third-world economies towards
globalisation, there was more of indulgent back-slapping than a serious
negotiation with the issue.
Politics
beyond parties
Ashutosh Kumar
The Conceits of Civil Society
by Neera Chandhoke. Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Pages 278. Rs
575.
THE
book draws our attention to the emergence of normative concepts of
democracy and civil society as a bit of consensual concepts, widely
celebrated and uncritically accepted as panacea to the ills of
contemporary society.
Of
Tibet’s victory in the ’62 war
Amar Chandel
A Clash of Political Cultures: Sino-Indian
Relations (1957-62)
by Sudarshan Bhutani. Roli Books, New Delhi. Pages 282. Rs 450
THE
1962 war is one of the watershed events of free India, considering that
it jolted the country out of its idealistic frame of mind and brought it
back to the hard ground of real politic with a thud. The
sense of betrayal was all consuming. No wonder there is insatiable
curiosity about what went wrong. This sense of bewilderment continues
even four decades after the event.
Wonder
and glory of Goa
Kamaldeep Kaur Toor
Goa: A Daughter’s Story
by Maria Aurora Couto. Penguin, Viking. Pages 436. Rs. 495
THE
author paints a vivid picture of Goa — evoking memories of the past,
citing concerns about the present and anticipating challenges about the
future. Maria Aurora Couto describes the psyche of the Goans as it has
evolved over a period of 500 years, that saw the fortunes of Goa change
from prosperity to dissipation.
Nature
as teacher
Shalini Rawat
Curiouser & Curiouser
by Neeraja Raghavan. Full Circle. Pages 78. Rs 295.
"IN
the Beginning, there was Nothing, there was no Truth, no Untruth either;
What was Hidden? Where? No one knows the Answer`85" Man began
musing on the origin of the universe and of the self during the Vedic
Age, or perhaps earlier, and has never stopped since. This fable tries
to unlock the primeval mysteries.
Continental
shelf
Prerana Trehan
IN
a literary landscape dominated by Anglo-American voices, it is easy to
overlook other cultures which have contributed greatly to the history of
thought. A foolish mistake, that, especially since many of the ideas
that have shaped mankind were articulated in languages other than
English and had their genesis in Europe and Asia.
Breaking
the royal rule
Kamlesh Mohan
People's Movements in the Princely States.
by Y. Vaikuntham. Manohar Publishers. Pages 246. Rs 500.
THIS
book, product of a seminar held in 1994 (funded by the Indian Council of
Historical Research, New Delhi), covers the rise and growth of the
people's movements in a number of princely states, namely Hyderabad,
Mysore, Jammu and Kashmir, Gwalior, Travancore and two small states-Nilgiri
in Orissa and Banaganballe in Andhra Pradesh.
Hindi review
Remarkable
senstivity
Harbans Singh
Nirvachit Kavitain of Bhagwat Rawat
Edited by Vikas. Itihas Bodh Prakashan. Rs 65.
THE
selected poems of Bhagwat Rawat are not only representative of the
private experiences and responses of the poet but also of his times.
From the village that bears the scorching heat, which makes the earth
open up in a thousand cracks, to the fields that get washed away by the
fury of the river, everything comes alive in the crisp phrases and
images that he creates.
CITY
OF JOYCE
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