OFF the shelf
Voice of dissent
V.N. Datta
Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity
by Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King. Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books.
Pages XXIII+198. £11.99.
For centuries, Judas Iscartat has been seen as an incarnation of evil, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ who betrayed his Master in the hands of Jewish priests for 30 pieces of silver. Generally, it is accepted that remorse for his crime of betrayal led him to suicide. For his ignoble act, Dante in his Divine Comedy put him in the cell of hell. The authors of this work offer altogether a different story in the light of the "extraordinary find" and see with "new eyes" to restore to us a vision of dissent from the generally accepted role of Judas in the crucification of his Master.

Home-cooked success story
Harbans Singh
Dabawalas
by Srinivas Pandit. Tata McGraw-Hill.
Pages 105. Price not stated.
BUSINESS houses have long desired to identify the durables and the values on which a lasting business can be founded. Shrinivas Pandit, a veteran HR professional, too attempts to find out those values by studying Mumbai's 115-year-old business enterprise.

Feminist writings
Jyoti Singh
Sexualities
Ed. Nivedita Menon. Women Unlimited.
Pages 333. Rs 500.
Edited by a notable feminist scholar and political theorist, Nivedita Menon, Sexualities is the fifth volume belonging to a series Issues in Contemporary Indian Feminism—archives of writing relating to gender issues in India—founded on the need for an overview of the considerable feminist writing available on a variety of issues.

From riches to rags
Deepika Gurdev
The Last Nizam
by John Zubrzycki. Picador.
Rs 395. Pages 382.
The Last Nizam tells you on page 173: "Durrushehvar was determined that her son stick to the rules and achieve no special treatment, but she also took the precaution of renting a house in Dehra Dun in case he had difficulties settling in. Foot reported that the Princess was 'a great addition to the rather provincial society of Dehra Dun and we all got on very well with her.'

No new insight on way forward
Shakuntala Rao
The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India’s Future
by Martha Nussbaum. Harvard University Press.
Pages 401. $26.95
Nussbaum, a close friend of Amartya Sen (the book is dedicated to Sen’s mother, Amita) and professor of philosophy at University of Chicago, has been writing about India for a few years. In this book Nussbaum’s focus is on the train to Godhra (and the riots that followed) which, for the author, is a watershed moment in the rise of religious nationalism and Hindutva.

Great escapes
Books, like people, have a life and destiny of their own, says Vikramdeep Johal
Writing a book is one thing; writing that book’s destiny is quite another. No matter how hard they try, authors cannot always prevent their creations from acquiring lives of their own.

Michael Rosen new Children’s Laureate
Sherna Noah
Michael Rosen has succeeded Jacqueline Wilson as the new Children’s Laureate. The author, poet and BBC broadcaster — best known for books like We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and Don’t Put Mustard in the Custard — will hold the position for two years.

Memories laid bare, letter by letter
Tom Rosenthal
Peeling the Onion
by Günter Grass. Harvill Secker. £18.99
Günter Grass published his memoirs in Germany last year and created a worldwide furore, in which his account of his doings in the Nazi era, including his membership of the Hitler Youth and service in the Waffen SS, pretty much took centrestage in the media.

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