India

July 11, 2011
Written with the flair and intuition one would expect from award-winning author Patrick French, (Younghusband) this objective account of a land of extremes examines India's historical background as the basis for continuing contradictions and plots the changing political, economic, and social landscape amidst competing ideologies and complex relationships. The book is organized into three sections. The first, "Rashtra" (Nation), is a highly engaging study of Indian identity. Mixing personal experiences with historical overviews, it is clear that in India past becomes present, with ancient history woven into daily life. Despite a constitution founded on modern principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, the formation of the nation has witnessed both triumph and disaster, and begs the question: "Is it right to ascribe unity and similarity to so many different people?" The second section, "Lakshmi" (Wealth), opens with an intriguing piece on John Maynard Keynes, whose early obsession and subsequent assessment of the Indian economy spanned two world wars. Hypocrisy is rife in a thriving Indian economy, and French's investigative journalism reveals the downside of new money. The third section, "Samaj" (Society), provides contemporary sketches highlighting cultural trends and the plight of a nation thrust into the twenty-first century spotlight. Though sometimes dense, French's latest book contains some intriguing tales and a dynamic narrative.

June 1, 2011

A rollicking, ambitious journey through Indian history and mores from a keen English journalist and National Book Critics Circle Award winner.

French (The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul, 2008, etc.) takes a fondly critical step back to observe how the staggeringly diverse democracy of India actually works, how it elects officials and how it dug itself out of entrenched economic debilitation, the caste system and poverty. In three sections—Rashtra ("Nation"), Lakshmi ("Wealth") and Samaj ("Society")—the author takes apart the workings of a fascinating country and its people, from the founding of the nation in 1947, amid the violent integration of princely states and partition from the Muslim north, through the economic liberalization of the last ten years that has "unbound" the enterprising middle classes. French recounts the Indian legacy through personal stories, such as those of the incongruous makers of the Indian Constitution, who self-consciously modeled their endeavor on the historic American Constitutional Convention—e.g., wealthy, Anglicized Brahmin Jawaharlal Nehru, an intellectual whose nationalist secular vision of India was schooled by years in prison; and the untouchable-born lawyer Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, whose incredible personal success evolved into "the outcastes' revenge." Despite their differences, all aimed to hammer out a document that "balanced liberty and security, shared power and did not rely on the goodwill of any one leader." French dwells on the perverse nepotism and tribal loyalties in regional elections, especially that of Indira Ghandhi's family, and the enduring, troubling Muslim Hindu animosity. He senses great gains in society, such as the growth of a true meritocracy allowing social mobility for the first time, and evidence of wealth everywhere. Yet still the country is plagued by a creaky infrastructure, stubborn tentacles of bribery and corruption, an indifference to horrific tales of exploitation right under the peoples' noses and official inertia despite efficiency in everyday life.

A perfectly chaotic encapsulation of Indian government, economy and social life.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011

French examines the rise of India in the 60 years since it won independence, beginning with Nehru's vision of a liberated, secular society and progressing to the complex India of today, where entrepreneurship and technological know-how flourish beside unrelieved poverty and an ongoing caste system. I jumped at this title not only because of India's primal significance--where India goes, so goes the 21st century--but because of French's reputation, e.g., a National Book Critics Circle Award for The World Is What It Is and a biography of Nobel prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul.

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