Book Review by U. Mahesh Prabhu Engineering and medicine are the two most coveted professions by Indian parents for their kids. It won’t be improper to suggest that: the reason for India to have so many doctors and engineers owes more to parental pressure rather than an individual’s personal pleasure. There are several stories to [...]

The book takes a close look at politico-economic circumstances that made China a ‘hard’ power and India a ‘soft’ state, says Anil Bhat As two major civilisations in the Asian theatre began their success story after the exit of the British Empire, they took different paths. While China remains, despite all reforms, authoritarian, India, no [...]

Termed a political history of Delhi between 1998 and 2009, the book ends up focusing on the rise and rise of Sheila Dikshit, and rightly so, writes Rajesh Singh At first glance, the cover of the book is a bit mystifying. It promises us a political history of Delhi covering the period 1998-2009, but the [...]

Book Review by U. Mahesh Prabhu When Muslims in democratic societies demand for “a room for Islamic prayer”, for “liberty” to wear head scarf or call for newspapers “to refrain from publishing Mohammed’s cartoons”, Islam’s apologists support them by referring to “freedom of faith”. By comparing Islam to other religion(s) and by presenting arguments like [...]

Book Review by U. Mahesh Prabhu With “9/11 mosque” controversy in New York already making news, not just in the United States but also across every free thinking world, a question as to whether it is appropriate to build a mosque so close to a place where World Trade Centre once stood before it was [...]

By U. Mahesh Prabhu Remember Fareed Zakaria’s much hyped book “The Post-American World” which claimed that it was “not about the decline of America, but rather rise of everyone else”? It was a jolly good read for non-Americans, specifically, as it spoke of the “tallest building, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones [...]

Kashmir Blues is all about pure, precious and beautiful sapphires. In fact, it is the sapphires that bring together all the characters: A Kashmiri boy fighting for independence, a Californian girl looking for her real family in India, a photographer who puts his life in danger for friendship. Naia’s parents, Jim and Anne, die in [...]

This book delves deep into the Bhopal gas tragedy but totally ignores the bonded labour case, says Rajesh Singh. One of the country’s foremost legal experts, Fali S Nariman is seen with awe not only in legal circles but also by the political class of all hues. But in his long and memorable career, he [...]

Evocative of the best of Thomas Hardy, the book imaginatively weaves tragedy within the lives of characters surviving in an environment stark and hostile, writes Swati Pal. I have an inherent suspicion of blurbs. It has got something to do with the adage — “never judge a book by its cover” — drummed into my [...]

By Dr Vaidehi Nathan AN aspect of the British rule in India that has received little attention from the historians is the justice system. Elizabeth Kolsky, an assistant professor of History at Villanova has explored this aspect in a well documented book Colonial Justice in British India: White Violence and the Rule of Law. “The [...]