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Enter, The Dragon
Reviewed by Parshottam Mehra
China at War: an Encyclopedia
Ed Xiaobing Li. Pentagon Press, New Delhi. Pages xxxiv + 605. Rs 1,900
Here is a stupendous
work of more than ordinary dimensions, both in terms of its physical
expanse dimensions as well as content. A large-size tome approximating
24 & 15 cm, its major thrust is not so much conventional military
history as the title mistakenly suggests as furnishing a broad
account, arranged in alphabetical order, of China’s long history as
well as a compendium of its values, concepts and attitudes to war.
Differently put, here is a broad picture of China’s socio-political
history against the backdrop of its security concerns and strategic
calculations that go into decision-making process.
Chicken Soup with a desi touch
Reviewed by Aruti
Nayar
The Chicken Soup For the Soul series
has regaled many book lovers ever since it was launched in 1993 with Chicken
Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the
Spirit. As an avid reader of these pop psychology books, one
remembers wishing that there was something similar that kept in mind
Indian sensibilities and context. Well told and short enough for the
reader to finish the anecdote at one go, these stories are ideal for
the time-strapped lives we lead nowadays.
The splintering tragedy of a
kotha and the akhara
Reviewed by Robin Gupta
Between Clay and Dust
By Musharraf Ali Farooqi. Aleph Book Company
Pages 213. Rs 450
Farooqi has woven an
exquisite tapestry portraying the disintegration of Lahore’s Shahr
Androon (although the novelist chooses the anonymous title of the
Inner City) in the wake of Partition and the disappearance of values
and a gracious way of life. The city walls have been stripped of
turquoise-coloured mosaic panels for construction by builders who, in
cahoots with governmental agencies target the akhara and the kotha,
the two columns of the city that have enriched its culture before
memory was scripted.
New light on Buddha
Reviewed by Harbir K Singh
Gautama Buddha —The Lord of Wisdom
By Rohini Chowdhury. Puffin Books. Rs 150
Buddha has been the most
influential man in this world, whose teachings have been followed for
almost 1,500 years in India and have also spread to many Asian
countries like Sri Lanka, Korea, Japan, China, Thailand and many more.
Even though teachings of Buddha are followed by nearly 400 million
people but still very little is known about the life of Siddhartha
Gautama.
A lesson in race relations
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s
birthday, on the same day, both symbolise a global and expansive
sensibility and rebut those other characteristics one St George‘s
mother was from Syria or Palestine, his father was Roman. Shakespeare,
who married a local Warwickshire woman, wrote so perceptively and
eloquently about cross-cultural and interracial relationships that no
playwright since has ever come near.
Repressive regimes can be on the backfoot as tools for revolution go online
Bloggers of the world unite
Reviewed by Abhishek
Joshi
The Blogging Revolution
By Antony Loewenstein
Jaico Books. Pages 294. Rs 350
The Blogging Revolution by
Australian freelance journalist Antony Loewenstein is a striking
account of the writer's investigation of the web's role in repressive
regimes which brought him face-to-face with bloggers risking torture,
imprisonment and even death.
An artist who transforms guns into art
Victor Hugo Zayas is a Mexican painter and sculptor who uses guns recovered by the city of Los Angeles' Gun Buyback Initiative to create works that he exhibits in
California. The series of sculptures was made with weapons collected by the Los Angeles police and most had belonged to criminals, Zayas told Efe. "The Los Angeles chief of police gave me the chance to use two tonnes of them."
Hardbacks vs e-books
John Walsh
In the world of journalism
it's called a "reverse ferret" - a story breathlessly
announcing that Black is White, just 24 hours after publishing, it's a
volte-face. Whatever it is, James Daunt, owner of Daunt Books and
managing director of the Waterstones chain, executed a classic twirl
last weekend.
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