Page 39 - Book Review
'The Great March of Democracy' tells the story of how India holds elections
The book underscores the point that 'election studies' make for a full-fledged subject in their own right, and can be a rewarding enterprise
 "'The Great March of Democracy' tells the story of how India holds elections")
Sex and memory
The title of the poem, 'Unremember' - it is the first one in the book - alerts the reader about its double anxiety
 "Sex and memory")
The prosecutor doesn't rest
Mr Bharara, who enjoyed a high profile and (mostly) favourable press attention during his tenure from 2009 to 2017, does not show a lot of leg in this book, nor does he settle many scores
 "The prosecutor doesn't rest")
Journalism's advocate
The New York Times deputy general counsel David E McCraw thoughtfully addresses this state of affairs as he takes us behind the scenes of the venerable New York Times
 "Journalism's advocate")
Spicy bard
The influence of Shakespeare on Indian cinema has been so vast and has been written about so much that one would pick up the book under review with some scepticism
 "Spicy bard")
Pioneer across the borders
It was Begum Ra'ana who encouraged young, middle-class Muslim women to come out of purdah and train as nurses and teachers so that they could contribute to their country
 "Pioneer across the borders")
Climate change and human history
The book is marred by errors of fact and too often reads like a series of potted histories
 "Climate change and human history")
Aryan myths
This book and the recent studies will dismay the Hindutva supporter who sees in India and its Vedic period as something pure
 "Aryan myths")
How Asia ruled the world
Much of this book turns on Mr Sharman's critique of what historians term the "military revolution thesis"
 "How Asia ruled the world")
The road to world power
It focused on China as the key factor in this transition and its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as an instrumentality in reshaping the emerging order
 "The road to world power")
'An ingeniously Indian enterprise'
One critical contribution in the book is the author's focus on the "compromised fourth estate"
 "'An ingeniously Indian enterprise'")
Contours of the 'Asian Century'
The questions raised by the author's stimulating book highlight his deft weaving together of technology, geopolitics, economics, globalisation - and the decline and rise of great powers
 "Contours of the 'Asian Century'")
Mistakes that led to Trump
Tomasky writes, "is the father of the modern political party, and therefore in some sense the man we might call the godfather of polarisation"
 "Mistakes that led to Trump")
Unmasking British rule in India
Ms Desai has built her well-documented narrative in six chapters and marshalled evidence from the British-appointed Hunter Committee inquiry into the massacre
 "Unmasking British rule in India")
Whose goddess is it, anyway?
Structured as a collection of 15 essays that look at Navaratri through the ages and across the social spectrum, it traces the emergence of the festival in early Sanskrit texts
 "Whose goddess is it, anyway?")
A victim's comeback
Ms Murad's prose describes atrocities that have now become part of the refugee-crisis discourse
 "A victim's comeback")
The perfect textbook
The tale is instructive because to practically all North Indians the people who live in the five states that comprise peninsular India - the South - are kalay Madrassi
 "The perfect textbook")
All our yesterdays
Fenby's history covers 13 months from June 1947 to June 1948, a period that, he says, 'really did change the world, shaping much of it in a form that gives the period a lasting relevance for our day'
 "All our yesterdays")
A story of self determination
In 1973, after a protest, members of the Oglala Sioux tribe march to the cemetery where their ancestors were buried
 "A story of self determination")
On a drive
The journey through the 40 poems in this volume is neither linear, nor constrained by geography
 "On a drive")
