Author Archives: Thebookreviewindia

The directors who shaped the contours of modern Indian theatre were born in the 1920s. Ibrahim Alkazi (b. 1923), Habib Tanvir (1923-2009), B.V. Karanth (1928-2002) and Utpal Dutt (1929-1993) are, arguably, our most important post-Independence directors…

The book under review edited by Udayan Vajpeyi attempts ‘to initiate new areas of interdisciplinary debate and focus critical attention to the interface between theory and practice of modern Indian theatre’, accord-ing to Ashok Vajpeyi, the editor of this series.

‘Dance is a dynamic and expressive performing art… Dance reflects and shapes contemporary local and glo-balized cultures, communicating ideas through the related practices of performing and choreographing. As a lifelong activity for individuals and groups…

Many of us have heard of Orchha—perhaps as a vacation spot dotted with notable architecture. But few of us might be aware of the turbulent history of this kingdom and how its champion, Raja Bir Singh Dev Bundela (r. 1604-1627) shaped it into the jewel it is today…

This book deals with the environ­mental implications of an economy based on the exploitation of non-renewable mineral resources and fossil fuels. It purports to establish that a viable world economic order requires drastic changes in life styles, strict population control and a switch to non-renewable resources…

This volume is the by-product of a conference held in Cambridge in 1975, whose object was to bring together youn­ger historians of the economic and social history of South Asia, i.e. those who began their research work in the sixties and seventies. The conference had no specific theme…

This volume consists of the proceed­ings of a conference on India sponsored by the Asia Society in New York and held in September 1977. The organizers of the conference were two US AID offi­cials, Arthur Gardiner, Jr. and John Mellor, assisted by Marshall Bouton (now in the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi) and Philip Oldenburg of the Asia So­ciety. The objective, as stated by Mellor in the preface, was to re-examine ‘U.S.

This book is yet another contribution of Professor Daya Krishna to theoretical perspectives on social sciences. Daya Krishna takes up for treatment a much discussed and thrashed-out issue in political science—the concept of politi­cal development. This is a concept that has provided considerable stimulation to many social scientists to think and write…

The study of social movements by so­ciologists is comparatively a recent pheno­menon. In Indian sociology, this research trend began to take a shape during the sixties, when agrarian, tribal, backward class and Naxalite movements etc., increasingly received the attention of sociologists. M.S.A. Rao’s book Social Movements and Social Transformation…

RC. Dhere’s Srivitthal: Ek Mahasamanvay first published in 1984 is a seminal study in Marathi of the history of the cult of Vitthal in the Deccan region of India. Compre-hensive in its scope and in-depth in the manner in which it envisions the significance of Vitthal for his worshipers and for the lived life within traditional and cultural mores, this study is an invaluable source book.

When the first volume of Dr. Sarve­palli Gapal’s life of Jawaharlal Nehru appeared three years ago, there was a definitional dispute on whether it was a biography or a history. The Sahitya Akademi settled it by citing the author and the book for one of its awards.

Banaras is enigmatic; ‘a city of stark contradictions’ that ‘elicits complicated feelings’ and never allows one the satis-faction of a rounded comprehension of its multilayered myriad mysteries. The city’s con-tradictions challenge one’s purse, prudence, and patience but Banaras still retains…

The volume under review can potentially serve as a ready reference for students, teachers, policy makers and researchers, both within the discipline and for those with an interdisciplinary approach. The brief write-ups on the contributions of the doyens of the dis-cipline in India…

It is often lamented, both in academic and popular discourse, that colonial rule had a deleterious effect on the indigenous handloom industry edging the hapless weaver, unable to withstand unfair competition with mill-made cloth, out of the market…

Children’s Book Trust, New Delhi, deserves all praise for its efforts to present a varied fare of folklore, biographies and stories for Indian children.

Despite its corny title taken, as Boo and her innumerable reviewers highlight, from an advertising hoarding, Behind the Beautiful Forevers combines fieldwork, ethnography, journalism, and literary flair to devastating effect.1 This effect is perhaps evi-dent in the largely laudatory reviews and more so in the density…

On Growing Up is perhaps the very first book published in India pealing with the processes of puberty. In a warm chatty style, Tara Ali Baig begins by ­giving a thumbnail sketch of the origin of man and then goes on to place man in the context of other creatures of the earth. She then discusses…

Atul Kohli’s book offers a comprehensive understanding of poverty in India from a political economy standpoint. It covers the growth story of India at the national and sub-national level in its entirety. Broadly divided into three chapters titled as ‘Political Change’, ‘State and Economy’ and ‘Regional Diversity’ the book’s strength lies in its clarity of thought and expression complemented by the use of simple and lucid language…

What is sadly lacking in most Indian story books for children is a light touch with language, originality, and a lively sense of the ridiculous. Most children abundantly possess the last two qualities, but I doubt if they find much in this genre to satisfy them.

This anthology of writings, covering a period of fifty years of development thinking from 1954 to 2004, examines some of the debates in development theory that emerged after the Second World War. It is the outcome of research conducted as part of the development initiative of Anveshi research…