Holy city, its people and landmarks
Reviewed by Roopinder Singh
Amritsar — A City with Glorious Legacy
By Varinder Singh Walia
Singh Brothers, Amritsar. Pages 320. Rs 695.
History, religion, commerce, education, all come together as we think of Amritsar, a city founded by the fourth Guru, which has a particularly strong association with Sikh history and heritage. It is where Darbar Sahib, or the Golden Temple, Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee headquarters are located.

Faultlines behind Sino-Indian conflicts
Reviewed by General V P Malik
Dividing Lines: Contours of India-China Conflict
By KN Raghavan. Platinum Press. Pages 385. Rs 225
THE author is a postgraduate physician who joined the Indian Revenue Service (Custom and Excise) after passing the Civil Services Examination in 1989. That background reflects his capacity for hard work and academic research on the subject. He wrote this account because he felt that the common one-dimensional Indian perception of Chinese treachery in the 1962 India-China conflict is too simplistic and there is an “urgent need to enlighten the India public about the chain of events that led to the month long war and the reasons behind the severe reverses suffered by the India military in the armed conflict.”

Indian writing: Ripple becomes wave
Reviewed by Rajbir Deswal
21st Century Indian Novel in English: Emerging Issues and Challenges
By Jagdish Batra. Prestige Books. Pages 240. Rs 700.
It's really gladdening to know that in the first decade of the 21st century, more than four hundred English novels, excluding short story books, have been penned by Indians? The figure is probably higher than the total number of novels published in India since the first English novel appeared on Indian soil in 1874. The figure might appear bloated, one would think, but then Jagdish Batra, an expert in Indian English fiction and the editor of the book under review, takes pains to list the names of all these works and then delves deep into the thematic aspects of around 130 novels.

Of missionary spirit and ground realities
Reviewed by B S Thaur
Mission, Religion and Caste: Themes in the history of Christianity in India
By Shashi Joshi. Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. Pages 188. Rs 390
IN the early days of British rule in India, Lord Macaulay, a member of Supreme Council of Education and a noted British Scholar, advised his government in England that in order to conquer India, the culture of the land would have to be conquered. He advised that English language be introduced in schools. The education system would be framed so as to produce only clerks and no visionaries.

Focus on new sources of medieval history
Reviewed by Sunita Pathania
State, Society, and Culture in Indian History
By Satish Chandra, Oxford University Press.
Pages 191. Rs 650
THE book State, Society, and Culture in Indian History by Satish Chandra is a collection of essays or addresses primarily written or delivered by the author in the last decade. As such the book reflects and synthesises issues and concerns in the medieval Indian historiography, weaving into the fabric recent researches on those concerns. The collection in its totality highlights the relationship between the state and society in medieval India keeping in mind the changes within their structure and functioning. Three distinct issues viz. social change, Mughals, and cultural traditions constitute the main themes of this collection.

Zeroing in on gender issues 
Reviewed by Kanchan Mehta
Women in India: Contemporary Concerns
Ed U. Kalpagam. Gyan.
Pages 217. Rs 650 
Selvy Thiruchandran, a feminist and an expert in women's education, in the informative Foreword, informs us that the articles/chapters, the book is composed of, have already been published in a special issue of Nivedini, a reputed journal, striving to promote South Asian dialogue on women's issues. Her contention that academic feminism within the institutions and women's movements in space are both essential ingredients of resistance against gender bias and oppression and are mutually supportive, arguably sounds valid. And, therefore, the book holds women's movement “as an arm of academic feminism “, she highlights.

tete-a-tete
Honesty of expression
Nonika Singh
A treasure-trove of knowledge and insightful anecdotes, eminent sarod player Pandit Biswajit Roy Chowdhury is a sheer delight. Wisecracks flow so easily and you don't know whether to take him seriously or dismiss his candid observations as a slip of tongue or off-the-record remarks.

Top-earning women authors in Forbes list
With yearly estimated earnings of more than $90 million, prolific writer James Patterson is by far the highest earning author in the world but women are gaining ground, according to Forbes.com.

short takes
Formulaic and predictable
Randeep Wadehra
The Angel's Share by Satyajit Sarna
Harper Collins. Pages: x+230. Rs 250

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