Ramachandra Guha

This is the first in-depth and analytical biography of an Asian woman scientist―Edavaleth Kakkat Janaki Ammal (1897–1984). Using a wide range of archival sources, it presents a dazzling portrait of the twentieth century through the eyes of a pioneering Indian woman scientist, who was highly mobile, and a life that intersected with several significant historical events―the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II, the struggle for Indian Independence, the social relations of science movement, the Lysenko affair, the green revolution, the dawn of environmentalism and the protest movement against a proposed hydro-electric project in the Silent Valley in the 1970s and 1980s. The volume brings into focus her work on mapping the origin and evolution of cultivated plants across space and time, to contribute to a grand history of human evolution, her works published in peer-reviewed Indian and international journals of science, as well as her co-authored work, Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants (1945), considered a bible by practitioners of the discipline. It also looks at her correspondence with major personalities of the time, including political leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, biologists like Cyril D. Darlington, J. B. S. Haldane and H. H. Bartlett, geographers like Carl Sauer and social activists like Hilda Seligman, who all played significant roles in shaping her world view and her science. A story spanning over North America, Europe and Asia, this biography is a must-have for scholars and researchers of science and technology studies, gender studies, especially those studying women in the sciences, history and South Asian studies. It will also be a delight for the general reader.

Saran questions, among other things, the Chinese claim that it was the most important and influential civilization of the ancient world, arguing that it was India who played that role. As a work of history, How China Sees India and the World is superb and tells its story not just in big, bold strokes but also through entertaining nuggets such as the spread of the chopstick, or how the word ‘zen’ arose from ‘dhyan’. As a work of political analysis, especially of contemporary China and India, it is erudite, acute and strongly argued, based on close readings of contemporary Chinese scholarship, CCP leadership speeches and writings, and through Saran’s own experiences as diplomat and Foreign Secretary. Utterly compelling, How China Sees India and the World is a masterpiece – a work that will become a classic.

For the 21st century to be India's, we need to excel in many areas. The vision of a five trillion economy is at best a pipe dream if we look at the current situation. The Struggle and the Promise makes an interesting case for achieving this grand vision. We must start with moral leadership - drawing on our inherent strengths as a culture that is at its strongest when diverse, tolerant and inclusive. In this path-breaking book, Naushad Forbes analyses policy, industry, education, economy, technology, international trade and institutions. Backed by solid research and unprecedented data, it provides an actionable blueprint for every area to restore India's potential

Shane Warne is one of the most fascinating sports people on the planet. You might not follow cricket, you may never have even seen Warne on the cricket field, yet you know who he is. How has Warne shaped sport and how has sport has shaped him? Who is the real man behind the back page and front page headlines?

This book is an historical survey of Buddhism in India and shows how over a period of 2500 years, Buddhism has been engaged in a struggle against caste-hierarchy. It has challenged Brahmanism, the main exploitative system of traditional Indian society, and instead endeavoured to build religious egalitarianism. The book focuses on the question of what is the 'core' element in Buddhist Dhamma, on what role it has played in the development of Indian civilization, and the changed perspective of Buddhism in a modern industrial age. The author starts with the rise of Buddhism in the middle of the second millenium BC amidst crucial cultural and social developments. The teachings of Buddha and the different forms of Buddhism have been discussed. Here the contrast between Buddhism and Brahmanism with regard to the caste system, the origin and role of state, the approach to various social groups and the position of women is well defined. The author examines the civilizational impact of Buddhism, its connections with ancient India's leading role in trade, its spread and popularity in South and Southeast Asia, its role in fostering a dynamic and open society as against the hierarchical, village-bound, caste-defined Brahmanical social system. Then came the defeat of Buddhism in India and the reassertion of Brahmanism. For centuries Buddhism retreated to what some term as its 'underground survival'. Its relationship with the syncretist Bhakti movement has been another important aspect of the book. Finally the revival of Buddhism in the nineteenth century, the dalit-based success of the religion under Ambedkar and its future in India have been studied. The author argues that Ambedkarian Buddhism can serve as a powerful force for reconstructing society in a new and challenging millenium.

From one of India’s finest writers, thinkers and commentators, a memoir of a love affair with cricket.As a fan, player, writer, scholar, controversialist and administrator, Ramachandra Guha has spent a life with cricket. In this book, Guha offers both a brilliantly charming memoir and a charter of the life of cricket in India. He traces the game across every level at which it is played: school, college, club, state and country. He offers vivid portraits of local heroes, provincial icons and international stars. Following the narrative of his life intertwined and in love with the sport, Guha captures the magic of bat and ball that has ensnared billions.

One of Library Journal's "Best Arts Books of 2020" The definitive biography of Ravi Shankar, one of the most influential musicians and composers of the twentieth century, told with the cooperation of his estate, family, and friends For over eight decades, Ravi Shankar was India's greatest cultural ambassador. He was a groundbreaking performer and composer of Indian classical music, who brought the music and rich culture of India to the world's leading concert halls and festivals, charting the map for those who followed in his footsteps. Renowned for playing Monterey Pop, Woodstock, and the Concert for Bangladesh-and for teaching George Harrison of The Beatles how to play the sitar-Shankar reshaped the musical landscape of the 1960s across pop, jazz, and classical music, and composed unforgettable scores for movies like Pather Panchali and Gandhi. In Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar, writer Oliver Craske presents readers with the first full portrait of this legendary figure, revealing the personal and professional story of a musician who influenced-and continues to influence-countless artists. Craske paints a vivid picture of a captivating, restless workaholic-from his lonely and traumatic childhood in Varanasi to his youthful stardom in his brother's dance troupe, from his intensive study of the sitar to his revival of India's national music scene. Shankar's musical influence spread across both genres and generations, and he developed close friendships with John Coltrane, Philip Glass, Yehudi Menuhin, George Harrison, and Benjamin Britten, among many others. For ninety-two years, Shankar lived an endlessly colorful and creative life, a life defined by musical, emotional, and spiritual quests-and his legacy lives on. Benefiting from unprecedented access to Shankar's archives, and drawing on new interviews with over 130 subjects-including his second wife and both of his daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar- Indian Sun gives readers unparalleled insight into a man who transformed modern music as we know it today.

Breaking new ground in scholarship, Niraja Jayal writes the first history of citizenship in the largest democracy in the world―India. Unlike the mature democracies of the west, India began as a true republic of equals with a complex architecture of citizenship rights that was sensitive to the many hierarchies of Indian society. In this provocative biography of the defining aspiration of modern India, Jayal shows how the progressive civic ideals embodied in the constitution have been challenged by exclusions based on social and economic inequality, and sometimes also, paradoxically, undermined by its own policies of inclusion. Citizenship and Its Discontents explores a century of contestations over citizenship from the colonial period to the present, analyzing evolving conceptions of citizenship as legal status, as rights, and as identity. The early optimism that a new India could be fashioned out of an unequal and diverse society led to a formally inclusive legal membership, an impulse to social and economic rights, and group-differentiated citizenship. Today, these policies to create a civic community of equals are losing support in a climate of social intolerance and weak solidarity. Once seen by Western political scientists as an anomaly, India today is a site where every major theoretical debate about citizenship is being enacted in practice, and one that no global discussion of the subject can afford to ignore.

The amazing inter-cultural correspondence (1919-1940) between two cultural icons of the twentieth century, Nobel laureates from the East and the West: the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and the French novelist, playwright, and biographer, Romain Rolland (1866-1944), has remained undiscovered for far too long. This work brings together, for the first time in English, these letters and telegrams that are among the finest exchanges of thought between the East and the West, and script the intellectual history of that period. It is also the story of a profound friendship, where Tagore and Rolland unlock their hearts to each other. The book also records the differences of opinion and misunderstandings between the two outstanding humanists of contemporary history, who often felt isolated in their own countries, on serious issues like Gandhi and Fascism. It comprises Rolland's correspondence with the radical Saumyendranath Tagore, and the whole debate on the Tagore-Mussolini controversy. This majestic and serene correspondence, comprising 46 letters and telegrams, along with three dialogues between the two at various times, as well as letters by Rathindranath Tagore and others, is a journey towards the imaging of a different world which would create the possibility of a new space outside cultural hegemony. Edited and annotated by one of India's foremost French scholars, it is one of the most important quests for an alternative discourse in the last century.