India: A Portrait - Hardcover

French, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846142148 ISBN 13: 9781846142147

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2011

Synopsis

One of this century's greatest surprises has been the economic and social revolution in India. A country long characterized by such adjectives as 'timeless', 'spiritual' and 'backward' is now viewed through a new set of clichés: 'hi-tech', 'materialistic', 'go-getting'. But what is the real nature of this rapid change, and what are its roots?

Patrick French has spent much of his life engaged with India, and his landmark new book is filled with the qualities that have won his writing exceptional praise: his love of narrative, sympathy for the individual's experience, scepticism about official claims, and relish for the mayhem of political life. His account of Indian independence, Liberty or Death, is an acclaimed bestseller. Now he gives us an encompassing social, political and economic history of India from partition to the present day.

Examining the cultural foundations that made India's accelerated transformation from socialist economy to capitalist powerhouse possible, French creates a vivid, surprising picture of what it is like to live at a time when millions have pulled themselves free of poverty - with fortunes made almost overnight - but where violence, corruption and caste prejudice have equally been given new outlets. He delves into Indian society and politics, including the personal story of one of the most powerful women in the world, Sonia Gandhi. And he travels the country's regions to show how Nehru's vision of a democratic, secular India has continued to attempt - in the face of conflict and setbacks - to hold this vast, implacably diverse nation together.

French has spoken to everyone from the nation's political leadership to Maoist revolutionaries and mafia dons, from chained quarry workers to self-made billionaire entrepreneurs and technological innovators. The result is a richly detailed, wide-ranging and hugely rewarding portrait of India.

About this title

Review:

French combines his lifelong passion, India, with his scholarly interest ... a fascinating anaylsis, revealing a deeper truth. (Salil Tripathi The Independent)

It is a funny, witty book; also dense, gripping, thrilling. What blazes through from each page is French's absolute and uncondescending engagement with India (Neel Mukherjee The Times)

Wide-ranging, clear-sighted, warm-hearted and immensely readable (Nirpal Dhaliwal Evening Standard)

French is a fine reporter, with an appealing fascination for all things Indian ... an accomplished portrait of momentous times in a remarkable country (Economist)

Admirable ... There are many Indias, and Patrick French sets out, with enthusiasm and empathy, to encounter as many as he can find (David Gilmour Spectator)

Mr. French compresses 63 years of post-independence history into 450-odd pages fizzing with wit, insight and infectious curiosity ... a riveting read, and one suspects that Mr. French could not pen a boring passage if he tried. (Sadanand Dhume Wall Street Journal)

About the Author:

Patrick French is a writer and historian, born in England in 1966. He is the author of Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer, which won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Royal Society of Literature W. H. Heinemann Prize, Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division , which won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land and, most recently, The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hawthornden Prize. Patrick has also recently created the incredible new website: www.theindiasite.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1846142148
• ISBN 13: 9781846142147
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 448