Ranajit Guha

History at the Limit of World History and The History of History are remarkable because of the somewhat eccentric views that the two authors, of very different persuasions, hold on what ought to be hisory. Aristotle, Hegel, Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derida, Jacques Lacan, Michael Bakhtin, Rabindranath Tagore et al are passed in review by Ranajit Guha, and Ranajit Guha, in his turn is passed in review by Vinay Lal along with an equally odd assortment of Hindu communalist historians


Reviewed by: Rajat Kanta Ray
Prakash Tandon

Autobiographical notes written by powerful men are usually interesting and thought provoking. One looked forward to this book by yet another not­able in the circle, Prakash Tandon. How­ever, one nibble at the book produces the feel of a well designed soap, launched into the market with the correct adver­tising line at just the right pitch.


Reviewed by: Madhu Aftab
Roy K. Gottfried

The synaesthetic response to language in Ulysses is unparalleled. Generally meaning is created through language, but in Joyce language is the meaning. It is entirely for this reason that those unfamiliar with the processes whereby language is turned upside down to create meaning find it difficult to read Ulysses, The processes by which language itself becomes meaning must be explored.


Reviewed by: Ravinder Gargesh
Nischal Nath Pandey

Journalists write the first draft of history, policy analysts prescriptive analysis and scholars give historical context, meaning and analytical coherence to the contemporary rush of events. Rush at all three in a ‘quickie’, and more likely than not you will flounder, as does Nischal Nath Pandey…


Reviewed by: Rita Manchanda
M.R. Narayan Swamy

Given the regular monotony with which Islamist extremists keep blowing themselves up in Iraq, Afghanistan and the border areas
of Pakistan one may be forgiven for forgetting that the suicide bomber was an invention of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)—the original big daddy of international terrorism…


Reviewed by: Kartikeya Tripathi