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In the age of digital photography where more and more images are being taken to be stored in the hard drives of com­puters a certain fascination with photogra­phy of the distant past has resurfaced.

Chapter 4, on page 99 of Zitzewitz’s book The Art of Secularism begins with a quote by painter Gulam­mohammed Sheikh where he says, ‘in one sense it is the communal situation that opened doors to understand the role of reli­gion in life.

History always offers rich pickings and an edited volume of rigorous his­torical research seldom disappoints. Shifting Ground: People, Animals and Mobil­ity in India’s Environmental History is an ex­cellent example and one thing can certainly be said about it—that even though a little unevenly, it shifts ground very effectively.

This is a collection of forty-nine ar­ticles, transcripts of speeches and lec­tures by a former diplomat divided into seven sections of seven pieces each; seven to represent the sapta-chiranjeevi or seven im­mortal beings in the Hindu pantheon; each section carries a helpful subtitle, Hanuman as the first Indian diplomat to be sent abroad, Vibheeshana who stands for righteousness and so on.

The Indo-US relationship assumes im­portance in a multipolar world with shifting alliances—new partnerships are being formed, some are being renewed and others are breaking up. The US and In­dia have never been as aligned as they are today.

Given the plethora of debates that have come up in the last few years on the stability of Pakistan, Paki­stan: Making The Economy Move Forward, makes an attempt to address this key stabil­ity-instability paradox, by critically examin­ing the strengths and faultlines of Pakistan’s economy.