Book Reviews

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pages: 292 Price: Rs. 350 A dozen “ordinary” men relate their impressions of their wives. “A wonderful wife is a unique creation.” So begins the book. But a perusal of “A Wonderful Wife” appears to indicate that “wonderful wives” may not be such a rarity after all. Barring an exception or two, all the men in this collection …

Publisher: Oxford University Press Pages: 160 Price: Rs. 225 No other political or social belief has ever been so proudly owned to or so savagely disparaged by both conservatives and radicals, aspired to or misappropriated as much as liberalism. But what is it, what are its principles, is it synonymous with democracy, can it and nationalism co-exist, and how is …

Publisher: Collins Business Pages: 324 Price: Rs.599 Start-ups may have become a familiar term in India in the past decade, but this lady dared to delve into such a mission — a domain dominated by men even today — more than three decades ago. The fact that she will be different from her peers was also evident rather early. For …

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pages: 449 Price: Rs.499 In 1969, the Wellesley College for women, near Boston, agreed to have a student speaker at its graduation ceremony – and the very first one abandoned most of her prepared text for an impromptu, impassioned rebuttal of the chief guest’s (a Massachusetts senator) address, and to outline her generation’s divergent goals and vision of …

Publisher: Notion Press Pages: 90 Price: Rs. 199 Imagine you are on a treadmill and don’t have a pause button or you are driving a car that has no brakes in it. For the individual in either of the situations, death or being seriously hurt is guaranteed. Dr. Gaurav Nigam’s first book, “Devil Inside My Mind”, reflects this roller-coaster ride …

Publisher: Portobello Books Pages: 240 Price: Rs. 499 The 2008 global financial crisis still casts a baleful shadow, but most of the world still follows the same economic theories without too many questions. But as Christine Lagarde, before she became IMF chief, once quipped: Would Lehman Brothers – whose bankruptcy was among the causes of the crisis – have gone …

Publisher: Straits Times Press Pages: 368 Price: NA In March 2013, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon called Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president’s brother who ran the war against the Tamil Tigers. Menon promised Indian support at the UN human rights vote in Geneva and wanted to know which countries may vote against Sri Lanka so that he may persuade …

Publisher: Penguin Books Pages: 305 Price: Rs. 599 This is a fascinating story of the Indian revolutionary movement, focussing mainly on the charismatic Bhagat Singh and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) and how the group influenced and radicalized the Congress, speeding up the race for independence. In contrast to popular belief that the revolutionary movement and the Congress struggle …

Publisher: Rupa Publications Pages: 240 Price: Rs. 295 The basic premise appears simple – after a turf war, the Indian security establishment okays a plan for a team of highly-trained, highly-committed commandos to go into Pakistan and eliminate a long-wanted underworld don being sheltered there. Following their nerve-wracking progress towards the target and seeing if they succeed would have made …

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pages: 232 Price: Rs. 399 What kind of a person can coolly go around a bustling metropolis with the hidden objective of reconnoitering a series of high profile and bustling targets for a relentless, unconscionable carnage and strike up acquaintanceship with those who might well figure among the victims? Daood Sayeed Gilani alias David Coleman Headley for one. …