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 enlarge | Author: Pankaj Mishra
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.61
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Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 101281
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0312426410
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780312426415
ASIN: 0312426410
Publication Date: June 12, 2007
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Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: V20081117044309S
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| Customer Reviews:
 A rather average work of political/travel literature December 24, 2006
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
The author, an upper caste Indian, spends the book traveling throughout South-Asia from India to Pakistan to Nepal and Tibet. While he travels to some of the world's most exotic places, the book lacks a central point, beyond the fact that these countries are changing as a result of increased contact with the West, which is hardly a new concept. The author's stories of growing up and attending university in post-colonial India were the best part of book, since the author had a unique story to tell. His travels into the Kashmir are also worthy of merit for their detail.
Many of the early chapters go deep into sub-details of Indian politics and were a bit hard to follow for those without extensive background on the subject.
The rest of the book he travels around searching for a story but he never really finds one. While nothing he wrote was wrong, it was not very original either. I had the feeling he was trying to be an Indian Robert Kaplan, who articulates commentary on politics and culture through detailed first hand experience, but the book really never measures up. The title is also misleading.
Misleading title and marketing December 23, 2006
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
The impression of a travelogue created by the title and the blurbs is misleading. A more appropriate title would be something like: "A recent political history of the Indian subcontinent".
No matter where he travels, the author's recurring theme is that of communal(Hindu/Muslim) issues in the subcontinent. The writing style is lucid, but the author seems to go overboard in trying to create a mood of depression and loss.
If you looking for interesting places in the subcontinent, you will not find it here. Neither did I find anything remotely spiritual in the writing. It is a book on politics, from the perspective of a zealous traveling reporter, and should be marketed likewise.
Not What It Purports To Be December 5, 2006
5 out of 13 found this review helpful
The impression I got from the description of the book on the book - which I picked up at a bookstore without having read any reviews - was that it would be more about culture. I was expecting stuff about Bollywood films and the way the West does or doesn't influence them, etc.
But mostly it's a book about (South Asian) politics and (Western) journalism, getting into very detailed info about anti-Muslim sentiments in India, etc.
A good book, but not what I thought it was going to be.
Title and contents don't match December 1, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
If you don't care about the title, then this is a very readable book and, Mishra is a good writer. It informs you about the people and places that Mishra visits; albeit in a somewhat cynical way. The problem arises when you start dissecting the book. You wonder if Mishra really has any expertise to write about places like Nepal, Tibet, Afghanisthan, Pakistan etc. It seems that his expertise is really in the underdeveloped Hindi belt, and surroundings of North India, an area which is quite removed from the modern world. Then what is this title all about? To find real stories about the temptations of the West, shouldn't one be digging in South India?
Coming back to the book, Mishra raises some soul searching issues about the failure of Democracy on one hand, and the tendency of the emerging Hindu middle classes to mutedly tolerate violence against minorities. Both of these issues are heavy topics that need to be covered thoroughly, with the one-on-one perspective that Mishra has.
 Insight into a little known part of the world November 28, 2006
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
In this book of essays, travel reports, and opinions, I'm not quite sure just what the word 'Modern' means in the sub-title. The places he visits and upon which he reports don't seem to fit my definition of 'modern.'
India is, of course, a world of contrasts, just as is the rest of the world. The places he describes in this book are a long way from the high-tech world you talk to whenever you have a problem with your computer. It's much the same as comparing the fishermen in South Louisiana with down town Manhattan.
Here we see India (and surrounding countries) as a place of dirt streets, mud houses, and a collection of hatreds between tribes and religions that go back centuries. At the same time, he reports on some progress as a middle class begins to emerge, but also a religious militancy with inter religious warfare. The pull of the material aspects of the west are matched by nationalism.
Mostly I come away from this book knowing that I know less about that part of the world than I thought. That I will probably never have a good understanding, and a feeling of some dispair in looking towards the future.
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