In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India

Book Description

India remains a mystery to many Americans, even as it is poised to become the world’s third largest economy within a generation, outstripping Japan. It will surpass China in population by 2032 and will have more English speakers than the United States by 2050. In In Spite of the Gods, Edward Luce, a journalist who covered India for many years, makes brilliant sense of India and its rise to global power. Already a number-one bestseller in India, his book is sure to be acknowledged for years as the definitive introduction to modern India.

In Spite of the Gods illuminates a land of many contradictions. The booming tech sector we read so much about in the West, Luce points out, employs no more than one million of India’s 1.1 billion people. Only 35 million people, in fact, have formal enough jobs to pay taxes, while three-quarters of the country lives in extreme deprivation in India’s 600,000 villages. Yet amid all these extremes exists the world’s largest experiment in representative democracy—and a largely successful one, despite bureaucracies riddled with horrifying corruption.

Luce shows that India is an economic rival to the U.S. in an entirely different sense than China is. There is nothing in India like the manufacturing capacity of China, despite the huge potential labor force. An inept system of public education leaves most Indians illiterate and unskilled. Yet at the other extreme, the middle class produces ten times as many engineering students a year as the United States. Notwithstanding its future as a major competitor in a globalized economy, American. leaders have been encouraging India’s rise, even welcoming it into the nuclear energy club, hoping to balance China’s influence in Asia.

Above all, In Spite of the Gods is an enlightening study of the forces shaping India as it tries to balance the stubborn traditions of the past with an unevenly modernizing present. Deeply informed by scholarship and history, leavened by humor and rich in anecdote, it shows that India has huge opportunities as well as tremendous challenges that make the future “hers to lose.”

Customer Reviews:

A must read for anyone trying to understand modern India.......2007-09-18

This is an important book on modern India. Edward Luce has been a foreign correspondent in India for many years and knows the country well. He provides a comprehensive survey of the politics and economics of India going into the 21st century. I was initially disappointed by the opening pages dealing with a few new-age types living in luxury and marveling at the spirituality of India while completely ignoring the poverty. Reading on I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was only an introduction to demonstrate what is wrong with many Westerner's perception of India. The book provides an unflinching look at India, warts and all. While some sections may seem overly critical, we live in an imperfect world and the same things are wrong in many other countries, to a greater or lesser extent. The rest of the world continues to function and even prosper and India does so too. The book also discusses the huge untapped potential of the country and the things that need to happen to assure future growth and development. I found the chapters on recent changes in religious practices and the rise of fundamentalism very eye-opening. The significance of attributing the domestication of the horse to the Indus Valley civilization is fascinating (I won't give this one away). In Spite of the Gods is a must read for anyone trying to understand modern India.

To spite the Gods?.......2007-09-15

I picked up this book when I was on a trip, mainly because of the intriguing title. I thought, well, here is someone who will tell us how our Gods hold us back economically. Especially, as many of us worship Lakshmi ji, the Goddess of prosperity, every day!

As it turns out, I was quite wrong. The title has absolutely no connection with the contents of the book, except perhaps to insinuate that India has progressed economically despite being religious. Or to help along sales. [Do note the rhyming with the original expression 'in spite of the odds'. Possibly Mr. Luce thinks that Hindu Gods were holding back India's progress, or that perhaps they are the real odds?]

The book is more or less a compilation of wisdom received from the author's Indian friends, and select social circle. I was unable to find any original insight or conclusion in the book. However, Mr. Luce does present the old and tired wisdom of assorted Indian intellectuals in a refreshingly witty way. In the end, the book is just a large collection of articles, such as you would find in any weekly or fortnightly newsmagazine or in any mainstream English language newspaper published in India. This is understandable, given the fact that Mr. Luce, after all is merely a journalist, used to regurgitating what others tell him. There is some useful information though, including tidbits about the high and mighty of Indian establishment.

Expectedly, Mr. Luce is most positive about and impressed with the economic side of Indian growth. He cites any number of examples of the growing economic strength and its implications. There may not be anything new in this, but the endorsement sounds nice, coming from a Western journalist.

However, his views on the cultural and religious aspects are a different thing altogether. He mostly holds the majority community as being directly responsible for India's perceived cultural backwardness, for the condition of the women and children, and for the distressing law and order situation. He also suggests that Bajrang Dal has been responsible for two out of three major riots in the last 25 years (the third being laid at the door of Congress). However, this is mere reductionism - he conveniently ignores hundreds of small riots which break out every year across India, on the slightest pretext.

This liberal confusion continues: when it comes to dealing with Muslims, he suddenly switches the canvas to South Asia, from just India! This serves two purposes: first it helps him cover the pre-1947 developments. Second, it allows him to include Kashmir in the discussion. Dealing with Kashmir within the framework of India would have perhaps been sacrilegious?

That said, it is therefore surprising to see an endorsement of the book by Mr. Mark Tully, whose work is as close to Mr. Luce's as North Pole is to South Pole. Perhaps Mr. Tully was merely helping along a fellow Briton. Or perhaps he was made to sign the endorsement using some frightfully sinister threat...

The book is very nicely bound, and the printing and paper is quite pleasing. So is Mr. Luce's writing style, humorous and engaging. However, sometimes it is a little tiring also, as you (as an Indian) sometimes feel that you are the [...]. of his jokes and gratuitous insinuations.

Buy this book if you quickly want to update yourself on the current perceptions of the fashionable and the intellectual. Skip it if you want to learn anything worthwhile.

Bad statistic.......2007-09-10

In discussing the low ratio of girls to boys, the author states that, in the West, there are 105 girls born for every 100 boys. That is not true. Even in the West, there are more boys born than girls. The numbers should be reversed.

Highly Recommended. Witty. Insightful. Modern. .......2007-08-22

I think some of the reviewers have done a good job of breaking down the book, so I'll just offer an opinion.

This is by far my favorite book this year, and not because I agree with everything the author has to say, but because I felt it was a good starting point for someone with little knowledge of India. It's filled with insightful information, humor, and does not read like some monotonous-tedious-textbook that drags on longer than it should.

I like that the author asks questions I would have liked to have asked, had I been there to do the interview. And I was impressed with the number of high positioned people he was able to interview. I appreciate that it's a modern book, and it deals with today's issues, explaining events that have happened in recent years that have been in the news, or haven't been. I didn't mind the author's opinionated views, and I don't quite understand why people think books have to be written from a neutral standpoint, which is a difficult thing to do, and most of the time leaves a book sounding dry.

This is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone. It's easy to read, filled with a lot of information, and gives you a good overview of what's going on with India. It certainly sparks an interest to read other books on the subject.

Biased?.......2007-08-14

While I liked the research done by Edward Luce for writing the book, there were many instances in the book when I felt his approach is very biased against the so called right-wing hindu nationalists. He is very critical about BJP and Vajpayee, Advani while painting a "great-soul" image for Sonia Gandhi. Also, he mentions Laloo Prasad Yadav as "witty" and sparsely mentions about the fodder [...] (in fact, I don't think he mentions at all). He mentions Sardar Patel just couple times and downplays his role in the freedom struggle and unification of India.

Oh and he talks about India's economy suffering so bad in the early days of independence. The 60s, 70s and 80s suffered due to bad policies and corruption but let us not forget that much of the economic plight was due to the British occupation and "mismanagement" of India's wealth. Let us not forget that in 1700 AD India's was the wealthiest country with 27% or more of the world's economy. India had problems and will have like any other country but British occupation was the worst we had! India's progress is surprising in spite of the years of tyranny and oppression by British AND the politicians following independence. Like a friend of mine said - India is not doing because of the politicians, India is doing well in spite of the politicians.

Jai Hind!

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Average customer rating:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The Complete Kama Sutra : The First Unabridged Modern Translation of the Classic Indian Text

Average customer rating:

The Complete Kama Sutra
Non Fiction
A book on relationships
Alot of information...
disappointed

The Complete Kama Sutra : The First Unabridged Modern Translation of the Classic Indian Text

Manufacturer: Park Street Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0892814926
Release Date: 1994-01-01

Amazon.com

The galaxy of pleasures in Alain Daniélou's translation of the Kama Sutra takes you back to an India where sexuality was an integral part of life and an avenue to spiritual bliss. As Devadatta Shastri says in his commentary: "At the moment when the peak of bliss is attained, the internal and external world vanish. The man and woman cease to be separate entities and lose themselves in the beatitudes of being." Daniélou's elegant rendering includes not only the entire sutra, much of which is excluded in other versions, but two essential commentaries as well. More than just a pillow book, the Kama Sutra is a guide to the labyrinth of sexual etiquette, from how to bathe before meeting a lover to how lovers should entertain each other after making love. Admittedly, the text is dated and culture bound in places; it can be chauvinistic, bizarre, and even violent. The commentators are careful to point out, however, that the work is an overview of all sexual practices, some of which are not recommended. Take from this encyclopedia of amour what you will and let it keep you moving down the path of spiritual practice. --Brian Bruya

Book Description

This definitive volume is the first modern translation of Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra to include two essential commentaries: the Jayamangala of Yashodhara and the modern Hindi commentary by Devadatta Shastri. Alain Danilou spent four years comparing versions of the Kama Sutra in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, and English, drawing on his intimate experience of India, to preserve the full explicitness of the original. I wanted to demystify India, he writes, to show that a period of great civilization, of high culture, is forcibly a period of great liberty.

Customer Reviews:

The Complete Kama Sutra.......2007-09-09

An excellent informative book.
Must be approached as a religion and not a list of sexual positions.
otherwise you will be disappointed.

D

Non Fiction.......2007-09-03

The Kama-Sutra is an entertaining instructional manual, if you like. A lot of the stuff in there of course is ancient, and now will seem quite absurd, as though it was out of a story about witches and wizards cooking up potions and other stuff like that. Apart from that, though, it is quite amusing to see what they came up with.

A book on relationships .......2007-07-26

This book is a full translation of the ancient Indian text. Most individuals only think of the Kama Sutra as being only about sex, which is what it is the most famous for the world over. In fact, the Kama Sutra is a text that is about relationships. It gives much insight into the views of the old Indian culture on marriage, and romantic relationships in general. It's very insightful and is perfect for anyone looking for information on the culture of much of India.

Alot of information..........2005-09-29

If you are interested of the teaching of the Kama Sutra in a no pectoral version, then this book will teach you every thing you have ever wanted to know about Kama Sutra, just with all those dirty pictures.

disappointed.......2005-08-22

More of a research tool. Unless your planning on becoming a "kept woman" or keeping one half the book is useless--doesn't pertain much to a married couple. Completely disappointed.

The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times

Average customer rating:

A classic!
Boring.
Exhaustive, detailed, but sometimes narrow, history

The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times
Tristram Stuart
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393052206

Book Description

How Western Christianity and Eastern philosophy merged to spawn a political movement that had the prohibition of meat at its core.

The Bloodless Revolution is a pioneering history of puritanical revolutionaries, European Hinduphiles, and visionary scientists who embraced radical ideas from the East and conspired to overthrow Western society's voracious hunger for meat. At the heart of this compelling history are the stories of John Zephaniah Holwell, survivor of the Black Hole of Calcutta, and John Stewart and John Oswald, who traveled to India in the eighteenth century, converted to the animal-friendly tenets of Hinduism, and returned to Europe to spread the word. Leading figures of the Enlightenment—among them Rousseau, Voltaire, and Benjamin Franklin—gave intellectual backing to the vegetarians, sowing the seeds for everything from Victorian soup kitchens to contemporary animal rights and environmentalism.

Spanning across three centuries with reverberations to our current world, The Bloodless Revolution is a stunning debut from a young historian with enormous talent and promise. 24 pages of color illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

A classic!.......2007-08-11

This is one of the most informative and important books that I have ever read. I have worked for a half century in the diet and health research and policy arena and have reluctantly but most assuredly because convinced of the health superiority of a diet comprised of plant-based foods. Along the way I also have become very much aware of the difficulty of communicating this message to the professional and public communities. Although serious interest in this topic is emerging in the last few years, even last few months, I am also aware of a visceral sometimes very hostile reaction against this view from a relatively small but sometimes influential group of people. The gap between the believers and non-believers in this way of eating could hardly be more contentious. Thus I have frequently wondered about the question of whatever happened to rational, civil discourse on a topic such as this, especially at a time when we are getting so much empirical data to support the use of a plant-based diet and so much demand for health care solutions.

This book comes as close as any to providing the explanation that I have sought. Although I am not a professional historian or philosopher, I have long had an avid interest in these disciplines. I strongly believe in that age-old adage that those who ignore history are bound to repeat it. However limited my perspective may be, I nonetheless find this book by Tristram Stuart to be an incredible presentation of some events and ideas that really go a long way to help provide an answer to my question.

I am still awed by the depth and sophistication of knowledge that existed among leading scholars and medical people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries concerning the use of a plant-based diet. I am sure that it is possible to quibble about Stuart's selection and interpretation of references, as is true of almost any historical account. Nonetheless, I am impressed with these references, not only because of their number, but also because of Stuart's liberal use of direct quotations--these can be easily confirmed, if necessary. But, more to the point, I found that so many of the views of these early writers, who had limited access to empirical data, to be remarkably well confirmed with the highly technical findings gathered in recent years. With my son, Tom, we write about these findings in our own book, "The China Study. Startling Implications of Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health".

There are many other impressive and largely unknown findings told in this book. I especially enjoyed the views on diet and health of these writers that were at the core of philosophical discussions that were to shape Renaissance thinking, especially on matters that led to political reform.

I highly recommend this book--it is full of enormously impressive content that says so much about what we are now experiencing in this field. Tristram Stuart is a remarkably capable young writer and I very much hope that he will continue writing more such material!

In the meanwhile, we now desperately need some of the courage and creativity of these early writers--a revolution in health could hardly be more needed. Thank you, Tristram Stuart, for sharing your thoughts.

Boring........2007-07-02

I've been a vegetarian for 25 years and was excited to get this book, which would give me insight into the history of 'my people'. Unfortunately, it's a snooze - dry, with references to all kinds of historical figures that I know nothing about, jumping from here to there, with nothing compelling to keep me adrift on a sea of historical mumbo-jumbo. I gave up after less than 100 pages. Sorry - it's obviously well-intentioned, but just not compelling or gripping reading - even for someone who is the core target audience!

Exhaustive, detailed, but sometimes narrow, history.......2007-04-08

There is no doubt that Tristram Stuart has conducted a great deal of research in order to write The Bloodless Revolution. He has a astute eye for minute details unique personalities. Doctors, cranks, religious fanatics, scientists, and others, some famous and some obscure, are rendered with thorough and loving detail. If nothing else, the sheer scope of Stuart's work is illustrative of how broad and diverse a movement vegetarianism is.

Yet sometimes I feel that Stuart was in some ways blinded by his own hypotheses and unwilling to look at alternative views. Stuart believes that European vegetarianism is rooted in Indian culture. This is not an indefensible view, but his case for it would have been stronger if he had answered some potential objections to such assertions, rather than ignoring them. Furthermore, literally all of European history between Pythagoras and English Revolution is simply missing. It is perfectly reasonable for Mr. Stuart to focus on a particular era, but readers with some preestablished famniliarity with vegetarian history -- a group likely to comprise a significant portion of The Bloodless Revolution's readers -- are likely to ask questions. For instance, why does St. Francis of Assisi not appear once in the entire book? Why is Leonardo da Vinci only mentioned in a quote comparing him to the Indians? Should the Cathars be ignored? It is one thing to focus on a specific era of history -- the English Revolution to the Second World War -- but it is another to leap straight from Pythagoras to Francis Bacon while ignoring virtually all of the intervening millenia. In short, if Stuart wants to emphasis the critical role of Indian influence on European vegetarianism, he should have investigated earlier indigenous European vegetarian movements or ideas and, if the evidence showed them not to be influential, shown us such evidence, rather than ignoring the whole question.

Second, Stuart often magnifies a dichotomy between animal welfare activists who called for less brutal treatment of domesticated animals and vegetarians who opposed meat consumption. While it is certainly true that there were and are numerous animal welfare activists who sought the reform, rather than abolition, of meat consumption (and vegetarians indifferent to animal welfare), Stuart seems to imply that these were each others' chief opponents. There is little mention of the arguments of those who opposed both animal welfarists and vegetarians. From my impression, it seems that Stuart himself happens to be an animal welfarist who has no problems with meat consumption so long as the animals involved are treated humanely. There is nothing wrong with this viewpoint, but sometimes I wonder whether Stuart's emphasis on welfarists as opponents, rather than allies, of vegetarians, is an attempt to defend his own position against worries about the persuasiveness of ethical vegetarian arguments, and whether Stuart ignores most views less sympathetic to animals than welfarism or vegetarianism because he personally finds them so unpersuasive that he feels they needn't be covered.

Lastly, while Stuart has a brilliant eye for detail and color, he has little time for facts or demographics. Such information may be hard to come by, but could there have been more information? For example, could there be some way of estimating the fraction of vegetarians in the British population from 1600 to modern times? Could we find out the average meat consumption per capita over time? I did not pick this up expecting a book heavy on statistics or demographics, but I nonetheless found the absence of even minimal attention to such matters disappointing.

Nonetheless, The Bloodless Revolution is a thoroughly researched, well-written, and original work. It provides a valuable resource to anyone interested in the history of vegetarianism in the modern era. I found it quite an enjoyable read, and the detailed portraits of the individuals, from meticulous scientists to enthusiastic religious cranks, were all a pleasure to read. I took great pleasure in reading it over several weeks.

Average customer rating:

One of the best Indian writers
India calling
Revisiting the old classic.. Nostalgia makes it sweeter
Incredible stories!
Believe me, the world I left behind is like this

Malgudi Days (Penguin Classics)
R. K. Narayan
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: 0143039652

Book Description

Four gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan's centennial

Introducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India “the writer has only to look out of the window to pick up a character and thereby a story.” Powerful, magical portraits of all kinds of people, and comprising stories written over almost forty years, Malgudi Days presents Narayan's imaginary city in full color, revealing the essence of India and of human experience.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best Indian writers.......2006-10-11

This book is a collection of short stories written in very simple language. What really makes the difference is the connection it establishes with the readers. Stories are about simple people and simple issues in life. RNK is one of the best authors I have read. He has his own style of writing.

India calling.......2005-11-09

Malgudi Days, a collection of short stories by R. K. Narayan happens to be my favourite book. The book is a compilation of different short stories that covers a plethora of emotions. It is the right balance between humour, and a dose of drama to cater to different moods of the reader. What makes this book unique is the simple, yet artistic narrative style, used by the author. The descriptions make the reader see the setting clearly. Add to it the perfect blend of beautiful Malgudi, with its rural charm and eccentric to ordinary characters, the narrative is complete. Most stories deal with normal people and their lives in a mainly middle class milieu in south India. In reality, Malgudi is an imaginary town set in the southern part of the country. But its description can be traced to any real town.

The tales come with sprinkling of gentle irony along with a humour. The endings are rather abrupt, which leave an indelible impression on the mind. The simple narrative that Narayan uses is his typical style. So, if you want to take a trip down south and explore the colours of India, you must indulge in the book and read it to your heart's content.

The stories deal with normal lifestyle of the middle class people in South India. Actually, Malgudi is an imaginary town in the southern part of India but its characteristics match with any real town. The tales come with a gentle irony and witty humour. The endings are rather abrupt and it leaves an impression in your mind. This way you are bound to think of them even after reading. The simple way, in which the book comes, is typical to Narayan.

So, if you want to explore the colours of India, you must indulge in the book and read them to your heart's content

Revisiting the old classic.. Nostalgia makes it sweeter.......2004-08-25

I reread Malgudi days after 20 or so years! It was a delight just as it was when I read them the first time. Only this time; being in the US, made the Characters more endearing! Looking through the mist of time the village with all its sounds sights and smells looked prettier than a real one. This is a book for you all ex-pats to curl up on a snowy winter day with a hot cup of tea (even better if someone makes hot Pakoras to go with!) and enjoy.
To the non-Indian friends, may be a hot coffee and some chicken nuggets (or soy nuggets!) and winter days.
To the couple of readers who were disappointed! Well the whole point behind these stories is to capture the life as it flows. The climax is in the journey itself.

Incredible stories!.......2004-07-07

Malgudi Days was my introduction to R.K. Narayan and frankly I have been wondering where he's been all my life. These stories are wonderful. They are the kind of stories that will stay with me for several days after reading them. Narayan brings you to a time and a place with each story. His characters are believable, his stories moving, his writing impeccable. Each story is full of humanity. I love this classic author! I really enjoyed this collection and look forward to reading more of his work.

Believe me, the world I left behind is like this.......2004-05-03

Indian village despite its problems of scarcity of drinking water,electricity, poor sanitation, unemployment and lack of health care, holds a charm to all Indians. Mahatma appealed to all Indians to return to villages, Ambedkar asked Dalits to escape them.

More Indians now leave their villages than ever to come to cities.
However, even if they leave their village, its memory remains with them for rest of their life. People call it by different names. Author R K Narayan calls it Malgudi Days!

A delightful book.

Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in Modern Politics)

Average customer rating:

Awesome book
Gandhian Politics
excellent new edition of Hind Swaraj

Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in Modern Politics)
Mohandas Gandhi , John Dunn , Geoffrey Hawthorn , and Mahatma Gandhi
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521574315

Book Description

Hind Swaraj is Mahatma Gandhi's fundamental work, and a key to the understanding both of his life and thought, and South Asian politics in the twentieth century. This volume presents for the first time the original 1910 edition of this work, including Gandhi's Preface and Foreword, not found in other editions. This is the first fully annotated edition of the work, and the volume also includes Gandhi's correspondence with Tolstoy, Nehru and others. Anthony Parel's introduction sets the work in its historical and intellectual contexts. Short bibliographical notes on prominent figures mentioned in the text and a chronology of important events are also included as aids to the reader.

Customer Reviews:

Awesome book.......2001-10-23

This book is simply awesome. I call this one of the best books I've ever read. It presents Gandhi's views lucidly and you understand the clarity of thought and spirituality of a person who lead India to freedom.
To all Indians who are unaware of their own civilization, this book also contains portions where Gandhi gives reasons for why he regards Indian civilization to be the best. (I accept that I'm being chauvinistic).
However, this book is not meant for Indians alone, it is for people who wish to be open-minded, who dare to think outside the box, who wish to understand the world, mainly who wish to search for the all-pervading truth.

Satyameva Jayathe (Truth always wins)

Gandhian Politics.......1999-12-10

Gandhi explains in Hind Swaraj some of his fundamental ideas on how to obtain Home Rule in India. One aspect of Indian society Gandhi criticizes is the relationship between Muslims and Hindus. Gandhi tries to convey the idea that religious identity does not constitute for nationality. He feels that in order to obtain swaraj, India's people must unify themselves as a nation. By disbanding disagreements between the two religions, with acceptance and without imposition, Gandhi implies that what is important- Mother India- can be saved. Both Hindus and Muslims should stop seeking concessions from the British, begin the swadeshi movement (Indian-made goods), and that a universal language (Hindi) would also help the cause. Another factor which will lead to swaraj is passive resistance. (Gandhi launched the Civil Disobedience Movement 1931-34). Unlike Nehru, Gandhi opposed modernization/industrialization. These views, as well as views about education and economic reform are also included.

excellent new edition of Hind Swaraj.......1997-10-14

This excellent new edition of Hind Swaraj fulfills the needs of all readers, either for private and academic purposes. Extraordinary is especially the introduction which covers all major subjects which should be taken into account for understanding "Hind Swaraj", e.g. wesetern and eastern influences on Gandhis thoughts, the London & South African years etc. The text itself is issued with a lot of explaining footnotes which also refer on the original (written in Gujarati). It's so far the first edition I know which compares between the english and gujatati text ! The only, minor manko might be the fact that the South African years are treated rather short, but the bibliography and advices for further reading lead the ambitious reader to new sources.

The Jungle War: Mavericks, Marauders and Madmen in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II

Average customer rating:

very informative and an eye opener! it reveal much of present geopolitical landscapes of burma india and chinese frontiers

The Jungle War: Mavericks, Marauders and Madmen in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II
Gerald Astor
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471273937

Book Description

Praise FOR Gerald Astor

"No one does oral history better than Gerald Astor. . . . Great reading."
–Stephen Ambrose on The Mighty Eighth

"Gerald Astor has proven himself a master. Here, World War II is brought to life through the hammer blows of their airborne triumphs and fears."
–J. Robert Moskin, author of Mr. Truman’s War, on The Mighty Eighth

"Astor captures the fire and passion of those tens of thousands of U.S. airmen who flew through the inferno that was the bomber war over Europe."
–Stephen Coonts on The Mighty Eighth

"Oral history at its finest."
–The Washington Post on Operation Iceberg

"Quick and well-paced, this will please even the most jaded of readers."
–Army magazine on Battling Buzzards

"A stout volume by a distinguished historian of the modern military makes a major contribution on its subject."
–Booklist on The Right to Fight (starred Editor’s Choice)

"Today, as we lose the veterans of World War II at an alarming rate, we must not lose sight of their sacrifices or of the leaders who took them into battle. Astor, an acclaimed military historian, provides an in-depth look at one of the war’s most successful division combat commanders, Maj. Gen. Terry Allen. . . . This well-written portrait makes for enjoyable reading."
–Library Journal on Terrible Terry Allen

Customer Reviews:

very informative and an eye opener! it reveal much of present geopolitical landscapes of burma india and chinese frontiers.......2006-12-12

this book is a precursor of the present political landscapes of burma and india. most specifically burma. that the present bandits landlords of the countries mountain lands are dominated by karens tribal rebels who actually support their existence with poppy production and traffics which actually are encouraged if not promoted by renegades ex kuomintang generals and soldiers who forrayed into the country thrun the frontiers during worid war II. A MUST READ for all who are interested in current situation in SOUTH ASIA!

Average customer rating:

A Good Spy Story That You Really Need to Read for Yourself
My Favorite Novel
It's too hard
Kim
The Great Game's Donnie Brasco

Kim (Penguin Classics)
Rudyard Kipling
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game

ASIN: 0140183523

Amazon.com

One of the particular pleasures of reading Kim is the full range of emotion, knowledge, and experience that Rudyard Kipling gives his complex hero. Kim O'Hara, the orphaned son of an Irish soldier stationed in India, is neither innocent nor victimized. Raised by an opium-addicted half-caste woman since his equally dissolute father's death, the boy has grown up in the streets of Lahore:

Though he was burned black as any native; though he spoke the vernacular by preference, and his mother-tongue in a clipped uncertain sing-song; though he consorted on terms of perfect equality with the small boys of the bazar; Kim was white--a poor white of the very poorest.

From his father and the woman who raised him, Kim has come to believe that a great destiny awaits him. The details, however, are a bit fuzzy, consisting as they do of the woman's addled prophecies of "'a great Red Bull on a green field, and the Colonel riding on his tall horse, yes, and'--dropping into English--'nine hundred devils.'"

In the meantime, Kim amuses himself with intrigues, executing "commissions by night on the crowded housetops for sleek and shiny young men of fashion." His peculiar heritage as a white child gone native, combined with his "love of the game for its own sake," makes him uniquely suited for a bigger game. And when, at last, the long-awaited colonel comes along, Kim is recruited as a spy in Britain's struggle to maintain its colonial grip on India. Kipling was, first and foremost, a man of his time; born and raised in India in the 19th century, he was a fervid supporter of the Raj. Nevertheless, his portrait of India and its people is remarkably sympathetic. Yes, there is the stereotypical Westernized Indian Babu Huree Chander with his atrocious English, but there is also Kim's friend and mentor, the Afghani horse trader Mahub Ali, and the gentle Tibetan lama with whom Kim travels along the Grand Trunk Road. The humanity of his characters consistently belies Kipling's private prejudices, and raises Kim above the mere ripping good yarn to the level of a timeless classic. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

When his father, a soldier stationed in India, dies suddenly, young Kimball O'Hara is left to fend for himself on the streets of Lahore. A proper English lad, Kim is plunged into an exotic and unfamiliar world of crowded bazaars and noisy markets, gilded temples, sahibs and fakirs, beggars, whirling dervishes, soldiers, and spies. Forced to live hand-to-mouth, Kim must rely on his cunning and wit to survive.But his life takes a curious twist when he meets a holy man, a lama, who is about to embark on a very mysterious quest: a pilgrimage that will take him across the vast continent, across mighty rivers and up the majestic Himalayas. He wants Kim to accompany him.But where will the journey lead? For Kim, all roads lead to adventure!

Download Description

Reared in the teeming streets of India at the turn of the century, the orphan Kim is the 'Friend of all the world', an imp with an endless interest in the extraordinary characters he meets daily. One of them, an old Tibetan lama, sets him on the path that will lead him to travel the Great Trunk Road, and become a spy for the British.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Spy Story That You Really Need to Read for Yourself.......2007-07-06

'Kim', taken solely on its own terms, is a late 19th century adventure tale, an early spy story, a travelogue of northern India, a coming-of-age story all set in the midst of the Great Game, the Russo-British contest for imperial dominance in Central Asia. It's a good tale well told, if the language is somewhat dated for the modern reader.

But, of course, 'Kim' is generally not simply taken on it own terms because its author Rudyard Kipling came to personify British imperialism as much as Lord Kitchener. The Norton Edition includes excellent articles that provide historical context as well as several critical essays. I consider myself an anti-imperialist, but also admittedly somewhat of a romantic about the British Empire, and I did not detect jingoism in 'Kim'.

Readers interested in even more background will want to read Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game. Readers needing to be disabused of romanticism about British imperialism may want to consider Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya.

At the end of the day, 'Kim' is quite a good adventure tale and a book that really need to read for yourself. Highly Recommended.

My Favorite Novel.......2007-05-24

After fifty plus years of reading, I think I can say that Kim is my favorite novel. I'm not sure it is the best novel I ever read, whatever "best" might mean, and it certainly isn't the most profound, but there is simply no other book I have enjoyed as much or have reread as often. Many other Amazon reviewers have said that they liked the book very much, often for different reasons: some like the "Great Game" aspect and others enjoy the rich narrative description of India for which the book is justly famous. (A few reviewers found the book "difficult", apparently because of the language device that Kipling uses when speakers are speaking in languages other than English, or for Kipling's use of unfamiliar words, and others found it boring, a criticism I find nearly incomprehensible. I honestly believe that if you find Kim boring, you just don't like to read fiction, except perhaps at the level of Tom Clancy novels. And don't be put off by those reviews that found the book difficult. I presume these readers were looking for a continuation of The Jungle Book and found an adult novel instead. Kim is much easier reading than the novels of many of Kipling's contemporaries, such as Conrad or James, and is no more difficult than Twain.)

At least one other reviewer shares my view that in essence Kim is a coming of age novel, and one of the best, in a league with Huckleberry Finn and A Portrait of the Artist. The Great Game provides the book with the bones of a plot, and Kipling's description of India, much like Twain's description of the Mississippi River environs in Huckleberry Finn, published 16 years before Kim, is the flesh. But the heart of the book is the development of the relationship between Kim and the Red Lama, the fundamental story of two people, one an orphan boy and the other an elderly mystic, finding many of the things they are seeking in caring for and looking after one another.

Again, it is hard to avoid comparing Kim with Huckleberry Finn. The core of the latter book is the development of the relationship between Huck and Jim, and it seems likely that Kipling was influenced by the earlier book. Kipling had clearly read and admired Huckleberry Finn, and once referred to its author as "The great and God-like Clemens." Not that I find the notion that Kipling was influenced by Twain to in any way diminish Kim. It is an absolutely wonderful book and I envy anyone who hasn't read it that is about to do so. Come to think of it, that's true of both Kim and Huckleberry Finn.

It's too hard.......2007-04-12

Unless you enjoy working hard at reading novels, I don't recommend this book. Before you start take a look at the 411 notes in the back that you will have to study (unless you know already know) to get something out of this work.

Kim.......2007-02-20

A difficult book for me to read but worth the effort. At times very complicated and difficult to follow but beautifully written. Great insight into the culture and beautiful landscapes of India.

The Great Game's Donnie Brasco.......2007-02-13

The United States needs a modern-day Kimball O'Hara or two if it is ever to be successful in thwarting future large-scale terror attacks. The likelihood of that happening is few-and-far-between.

This Rudyard Kipling classic has recently found its way on to US military officer reading lists, and this review will approach the novel from that perspective. As cultural understanding and sensitivity crawls its way up the priority list for military personnel serving abroad, there are few better or more enjoyable ways to appreciate the issue than reading "Kim."

The main character is a British orphan about thirteen years of age when the story begins who has been raised on the streets of Lahore in present-day Pakistan. He speaks fluent Hindi, understands various dialects and, perhaps most important of all, intimately understands the kaleidoscopic whirl of religions and cultures that travel and trade along the northwest border of British India. He takes to the road as a disciple or "chela" of a wandering Tibetan priest in search of a mythical holy river with healing powers. Along the way, he has a chance encounter with his deceased father's old army regiment and his identity is revealed. The army sends him to a prestigious English language Catholic school in the south, but his potential value is quickly gleaned by a member of the British secret service, which is engaged in a cloak-and-dagger contest with the Russians as their two spreading empires converged along the Hindu Kush in the last decades of the 19th century.

There are a number of ways to analyze or appreciate Kipling's writing and the complex narrative he creates. One is historical. The author grew up in India and sets the story on a timeline that would have exactly equated with his own youth in the British colony. The sights, sounds, phrases, references, and personalities in "Kim" are entirely authentic. The volume I read included footnotes that explained the arcane expressions and places. Without this helpful aid much of the story would have been lost (to me at least), so it is worth checking to see if the volume you are buying has notes or a glossary.

Another angle on the story is what is says about modern human intelligence operations. The leading British intelligent agent in the novel, Colonel Creighton, recognizes that Kim has language, culture skills, and local street smarts that simply cannot be taught in any academy. He is lucky that Kim begrudgingly accepts his "obligation" as a Sahib (white man) and agrees to help Britain in its game of wits with the Russians - and it happens to offer him the freedom and adventure he desperately craves.

So, whether one is interested in 19th century India and Pakistan or simply enjoys a good spy novel, "Kim" is as fine a book as can be recommended.

Flashman and the Mountain of Light (Flashman)

Average customer rating:

"There Were Some Damned Odd Fellows About in the Earlies"
Another great adventure of Flashman
Say it isn't so! Flashman shows some courage?!?
History has never been more enjoyable
Flashman's fourth, and best so far.

Flashman and the Mountain of Light (Flashman)
George MacDonald Fraser
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0452267854

Customer Reviews:

"There Were Some Damned Odd Fellows About in the Earlies".......2007-08-06

In George MacDonald Fraser's 'Flashman and the Mountain of Light', our man Flashy sees Queen Vicky holding the Koh-I-Noor diamond and flashes back to India - more precisely, the Punjab where he arrives just in time for the first Anglo Sikh War (1845-46), not to suggest that Flashman had a hand in the war or anything.

The reader meets some of the most colorful figures ever to occupy the historical stage - as Flashman says "there were some damned odd fellows about in the earlies" - many of whom have just about slipped into the obscuring mists of time before Frasser rescued them. There's the White Mughal Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner, the Queen Mother Maharani Jeendan (ohh, what a mother!), British 'agent' George Broadfoot and more. Flashman even meets up with a couple of fellows who are bigger cowards than he - Lal Singh and Tej Singh.

Fraser also takes the reader through the war in some detail, especially the battles at Ferozeshah and Sobraon. If anything the battle scenes last too long, but that will be a matter of taste for the individual reader.

Along the way, Harry engages in some rather disturbing behavior, which other reviewers have suggested indicate a degree of bravery heretofore undetected. Bosh! While Flashy isn't always the quivering mass of jelly we have come to expect, any actions suggestive of courage are simply acts of self-preservation. And anyway, Flashy gets his just reward for such behavior in the end.

Highest Flashman recommendation.

Another great adventure of Flashman.......2005-08-03

After reading Royal Flash and Flashman's Lady, I was beginning to think that I as over Flashy, as those books didnt move me in quite the same way the Flashman Papers and the Dragon did.

However, this tale of debauchery and adventure redeemed good ole Flashy in my eyes. Actually, I have been beginning to suspect that Flashy isnt as big a coward as he plays himself to be. His aim appears steady and his sword arm sure when ever he is in a pinch.

The only draw back is that if you are not careful to remember the meanings of all the native lingo, you'll bound to get lost.

Say it isn't so! Flashman shows some courage?!?.......2005-01-11

In the fourth installment of the Flashman papers, our intrepid hero is in India, helping the Empire expand into the Punjab. And yes, there are instances where Flashman does seem to demonstrate a little spine - but perhaps this is more a result of his working along side equally manipulative and underhanded schemers that Flash looks downright heroic in comparison.

As Flashman fans would expect, the history behind the story is meticulously documented. The tale is set a few years before the crown assumes control of the sub-continent from the East India Company, as India makes is greatest (but ultimately failed) attempt to drive the English out of the region by force. The history alone makes a fascinating read. With the addition of Harry Flashman's escapades to "liven up" the byzantine plotting of real -life theives, turncoats, cowards and liars you have the best Flashman book to date.

History has never been more enjoyable.......2003-09-18

Neither has historical fiction. Harry Flashman is both. By now you are probably joining me in wishing Harry Flashman was here today. I'd vote for him to President.

Flashman's fourth, and best so far........2002-03-19

I read this book as part four of my chronological survey of the life and times of the greatest jewel in the British crown. After greatly enjoying the original Flashman papers and the two following edited packages, I consider this installment the best so far.

Fraser not only gives us the expected portion of ribaldry, but puts our hero in an accurately described historic situation in which some of the players are so spineless that they make look Flashy rather virtuous, by comparison.
The result is a well-documented narrative, describing the first series of big battles of the British in the Punjab in which the local powers did not have any scruples about plotting a defeat resulting in thousands of deaths of their own people, just to hold on to power a little longer.

In style, Flashman, who looks rather upstanding through it all, gets none of the credit that he for once deserved. ...

Book Description

Prasenjit Duara offers the first systematic account of the relationship between the nation-state, nationalism, and the concept of linear history. Focusing primarily on China and including discussion of India, Duara argues that many historians of postcolonial nation-states have adopted a linear, evolutionary history of the Enlightenment/colonial model. As a result, they have written repressive, exclusionary, and incomplete accounts.

The backlash against such histories has resulted in a tendency to view the past as largely constructed, imagined, or invented. In this book, Duara offers a way out of the impasse between constructionism and the evolving nation; he redefines history as a series of multiple, often conflicting narratives produced simultaneously at national, local, and transnational levels. In a series of closely linked case studies, he considers such examples as the very different histories produced by Chinese nationalist reformers and partisans of popular religions, the conflicting narratives of statist nationalists and of advocates of federalism in early twentieth-century China. He demonstrates the necessity of incorporating contestation, appropriation, repression, and the return of the repressed subject into any account of the past that will be meaningful to the present. Duara demonstrates how to write histories that resist being pressed into the service of the national subject in its progress—or stalled progress—toward modernity.

Customer Reviews:

A Provocative look at Nationialism and History .......2005-11-03

Prasenjit Duara weaves together theoretical and historical material on China and India in this insightful look at how history has become "nation-centric." Although historical writing has a long, diverse history beyond the nation-state, "modern history" in the Western sense began with the rise of the European nation-states in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Duara presents a series of brilliant, yet challenging arguments regarding the prevalence of the Nation in historiography. His main argument is that "national history secures for the contested and contingent nation the false unity of a self-same, national subject evolving over time (page 2)." This basically means that history, in the nation-centric sense, homogenizes difference, while separating itself from the "Other." After expanding on this argument, Duara lays out several counter-narratives, primarily focused on periods in Chinese "nation-building" history, that attempt to "bifurcate" (i.e. complicate)the simplistic "Enlightenment history" that has become the staple of Chinese historiography. His essays on civil society and provincial narratives (Chapters 5 and 6) are especially interesting.

I enjoyed reading Duara, and found his arguments very useful towards writing history that's not so nation-oriented (e.g. world-history, comparative studies). His writing was clear, but still difficult because of the many postmodernist terms (be sure to read Foucault or at least have a postmodernist dictionary at hand). I'd recommend reading Benedict Anderson's "Imagined Communities" first, if only because Anderson serves as a useful introduction to the debates over the nation-state concept/discourse.

History of China in a Modern Age.......2000-08-03

This book is highly theoretical and inspiring work in modern Chinese history studies. I read this book with great pleasure and comfort. No doubt Professor Duara is both a wonderful historian and narrator of conflicting forces inside the Baboon Curtain. As an Indian-born historian, he made very interesting comparation between Indian and Chinese history. As we all know, most historian were hired by the government( in Duara's word " nation-state"), so in their works, China is supposed to be enjoying a monolithic power in the middle of world. But with the method of Duara, we see more distinctive accounts of the so called colonial age in ancient Chinese History. One of most important argument which Duara made in his book is that Enlightment historian suppose ancient China based on a homogenous community that corresponds to the instrumental ideology of the modern state. He pointed out there are some basic difference in Modern China and ancient Chinese traditions

especially after the May,4th movement. Another point which I agree is that it is awkward to impose some Western classification machanism on the Chinese history. A lot of China-centered historians are well trained by Western ideology and tradition which is radically different from Asian heritage. For example, some historian argues that there is no real "feudalism" existed in Ancient China. So in this field, attempts to analyze the forces behind the account is very prone to be western-minded. Another claim he made is that the so called "nationlism" is far from from unique in the history. In this work, some important currents in the Pre-modern and Modern notion and figured are discussed, such as Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism, Mao and Communism, Fictions in the 1920s etc.

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