Book Reviews

Publisher: Penguin Pages: 474 Price: Rs.599 ‘Conventional’ wisdom has it Pakistan, though planned and achieved as an Islamic nation-state, began its worrying tryst with radical Islamism in the 1970s when a civilian leader sought to use it to try to shore up his position, and the general who overthrew him, went in more deeper out of his own inclination and …

Publisher: Vintage Books/Random House India Pages: 345 Price: Rs.399 The Lal Masjid stand-off in 2007 after abduction of some Chinese citizens and the bloody clearing-up operation was a watershed for Pakistan, triggering open conflict between Islamist extremists and security forces, a wave of suicide attacks and sending the economy plummeting. But an aspect less considered is the Chinese role in …

Publisher: Rupa Pages: 283 Price: Rs.500 Branding is the biggest buzzword for any product to thrive, or even survive. But how does one create a successful brand? For Anisha Motwani, the idea for the book began with a simple question: How is it that in a diverse, challenging and often predictable market like India, a handful of companies are doing …

Publisher: Hays House Publishers India Pages: 312 Price: Rs.399 Can you recall the first Bollywood film stressing communal harmony and tolerance by showing diverse people staying together despite vested interests trying to divide them? (It was Dev Anand‘s debut). Two where everything happens in one eventful, adventurous night? (They starred Waheeda Rehman and Madhubala). The first (and possibly only) mainstream …

Publisher: Speaking Tiger; Pages: 408; Price: Rs.499 With global food shortage peaking in the past decade, American author Joel K. Bourne Jr. paints the vision of an apocalyptic future for humankind if concerted efforts are not made to ward off what Robert Malthus had predicted as the coming of an “agricultural Armageddon.” The ideas of the 18th century economist, Malthus, …

Author: Mekhala Sengupta Publisher: Harper Collins Pages: 248 Price: Rs.350 Her life seems like a melodramatic film plot – a hard-fought ascent from destitution and menial work to become a superstar and a heart-throb, but then also encountering the dark side of the glamour world with its lechery and jealousy and the harsh lesson that fame does not always make …

Publisher: Hachette India Pages: 292 Price: Rs.399 The only journalist allowed at the wedding of Dawood Ibrahim’s daughter (where she even managed to exchange greetings with him), to talk to Chhota Rajan after a bid on his life, get called by Dawood’s loyal lieutenant Chhota Shakeel for his version (and made to depose in a case against him), and meet most …

Author: Bhanu Dhamija Publisher: Harper Collins Pages: 384 Price: Rs.550 Was “familiarity” the only reason why India adopted a parliamentary system of governance? In his book “Why India Needs the Presidential System”, author Bhanu Dhamija, himself a publisher, seeks to answer this question, while extending some radical thoughts on how we should be governed. “The Indian system began to break …