India Books - Page 12

Krishnamurti's Notebook

J. Krishnamurti

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Expensive, being out-of-print, but worth it for the seeker 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

There are many collections of J. Krishnamurti's writings, which actually come from his talks prepared for various audiences, and most of them are extremely good and enlightening.

However, this, his notebook, is a more direct view of his thoughts, being written down during one of his travels in a notebook. These are personal revelations, written for his own purposes, and as such are quite instructive.

We do once again encounter many of his concepts as revealed in his lectures, but here they are presented in a different context, as in a personal journal. We get beautiful descriptions of his surroundings. These musings are written in the third person in that he refers to himself as "one" rather than "I".

This book will undoubtedly be of more value to those already familiar with his writings and with his talks than to those who haven't yet become acquainted with them. It is a more direct glimpse into his thinking.

Very highly recommended to the spiritually inclined.

Editorial Review:

When Krishnamurti'ss Notebook first became available in 1976, it was soon realized that it was a spiritually unique document giving his perceptions and experiences and describing his states of consciousness. It is a kind of diary but one that is little concerned with the day to day process of living, though very much aware of the natural world.

The Nation and Its Fragments

Partha Chatterjee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this book, the prominent theorist Partha Chatterjee looks at the creative and powerful results of the nationalist imagination in Asia and Africa that are posited not on identity but on difference with the nationalism propagated by the West. Arguing that scholars have been mistaken in equating political nationalism with nationalism as such, he shows how anticolonialist nationalists produced their own domain of sovereignty within colonial society well before beginning their political battle with the imperial power. These nationalists divided their culture into material and spiritual domains, and staked an early claim to the spiritual sphere, represented by religion, caste, women and the family, and peasants. Chatterjee shows how middle-class elites first imagined the nation into being in this spiritual dimension and then readied it for political contest, all the while "normalizing" the aspirations of the various marginal groups that typify the spiritual sphere.

While Chatterjee's specific examples are drawn from Indian sources, with a copious use of Bengali language materials, the book is a contribution to the general theoretical discussion on nationalism and the modern state. Examining the paradoxes involved with creating first a uniquely non-Western nation in the spiritual sphere and then a universalist nation-state in the material sphere, the author finds that the search for a postcolonial modernity is necessarily linked with past struggles against modernity.

A New History of India

Stanley Wolpert

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Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

After more than twenty-five years in print, A New History of India continues to be the most readable and popular one-volume history of India available. Now in its eighth edition, this acclaimed text features updated scholarship and bibliographic material throughout and integrates new research on such incisive topics as the Indian diaspora, the economy, and the nuclear issue.
In lively, accessible language, Stanley Wolpert condenses more than 4,000 years of India's history into a graceful and engaging narrative. He discusses modern India's rapidly growing population, industry, and economy, and also considers the prospects for India's future. From a carefully balanced perspective, Wolpert presents a fair and truthful record of India's history--he offers both a triumphant portrayal of the brightest achievements of Indian civilization as well as a sobering examination of its persistent social inequities and economic and political corruption.
Enhanced with striking new images and a full-color map of India and the surrounding area, A New History of India, Eighth Edition, remains the authoritative text on the compelling--and often controversial--history of this fascinating country.

Selected Works of M.N. Roy Volume I:1917- 1922

M.N. Roy, Sibnarayan Ray

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Editorial Review:

This volume contains some of Roy's major writings between 1917 and 1922, including his observations of the Mexican period, ideological theses, speeches and writings of the early communist period, the entire text of India in Transition, and excerpts from The Vanguard and The Advance-Guard.

The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future

Martha C. Nussbaum

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

While America is focused on religious militancy and terrorism in the Middle East, democracy has been under siege from religious extremism in another critical part of the world. As Martha Nussbaum reveals in this penetrating look at India today, the forces of the Hindu right pose a disturbing threat to its democratic traditions and secular state.

Since long before the 2002 Gujarat riots--in which nearly two thousand Muslims were killed by Hindu extremists--the power of the Hindu right has been growing, threatening India's hard-won constitutional practices of democracy, tolerance, and religious pluralism. Led politically by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu right has sought the subordination of other religious groups and has directed particular vitriol against Muslims, who are cast as devils in need of purging. The Hindu right seeks to return to a "pure" India, unsullied by alien polluters of other faiths, yet the BJP's defeat in recent elections demonstrates the power that India's pluralism continues to wield. The future, however, is far from secure, and Hindu extremism and exclusivity remain a troubling obstacle to harmony in South Asia.

Nussbaum's long-standing professional relationship with India makes her an excellent guide to its recent history. Ultimately she argues that the greatest threat comes not from a clash between civilizations, as some believe, but from a clash within each of us, as we oscillate between self-protective aggression and the ability to live in the world with others. India's story is a cautionary political tale for all democratic states striving to act responsibly in an increasingly dangerous world.

(20070628)

Discoveries: The Wisdom of the Buddha (Discoveries (Abrams))

Jean Boisselier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

so/so reading material 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This book was an impulse buy for me. I saw it wasn't expensive so I thought "why not?" Nothing really in depth about Buddhism. It was all pretty much just historical accounts of the religion. I was not sastified with it at all. Dry reading, not very interesting really. Look else where for a book on the Buddha's wisdom.

The history of Buddha - full of facts. 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

For a history of Buddha, this book is excellent. Dates, names and cities are listed on almost every page. The pictures are colorful, brilliant and numerous. I enjoy reading a story, but this book was more historical than enjoyable for me. For a history project or for more information on the Buddha, I would recommend this, but for "pleasure reading", I would not.

Editorial Review:

A compelling introduction to Buddhism, this volume recounts the powerful story of the 6th-century B.C. Indian prince who set aside family and fortune to search for the answer to the universal question of suffering and death. Known as Buddha, he changed the face of the world's beliefs. 207 illustrations, 160 in full color. Bibliography. Index.

Maharanis: The Extraordinary Tale of Four Indian Queens and Their Journey from Purdah to Parliament

Lucy Moore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A rare, exotic portrait of the matriarchs of a brilliant Indian family

Ranging from the final days of the Raj and the British Empire to the present, Lucy Moore vividly re-creates a splendid lost world and describes India’s national growing pains through the sumptuous, audacious lives of four ravishing, influential women of the same family—Sunity Devi, friend to Queen Victoria; Chimnabai, fierce nationalist; Indira, her flamboyant daughter; and Ayesha, her equally fashionable daughter—who fought tirelessly and with incomparable grace to turn an ancient tradition of noblesse oblige into a progressive democracy. BACKCOVER: “Scintillating. Moore revels in every detail—from the elegance of the maharanis’ attire, to the complexities of Indian family life and politics, to the trauma and heroism of breaking with tradition.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“A fascinating picture of a vanished world.”
—Sarah Bradford, author of Lucrezia Borgia

The Cost of Living

Arundhati Roy

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Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the bestselling author of The God of Small Things comes a scathing and passionate indictment of big government's disregard for the individual.

In her Booker Prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy turned a compassionate but unrelenting eye on one family in India. Now she lavishes the same acrobatic language and fierce humanity on the future of her beloved country. In this spirited polemic, Roy dares to take on two of the great illusions of India's progress: the massive dam projects that were supposed to haul this sprawling subcontinent into the modern age--but which instead have displaced untold millions--and the detonation of India's first nuclear bomb, with all its attendant Faustian bargains.

Merging her inimitable voice with a great moral outrage and imaginative sweep, Roy peels away the mask of democracy and prosperity to show the true costs hidden beneath. For those who have been mesmerized by her vision of India, here is a sketch, traced in fire, of its topsy-turvy society, where the lives of the many are sacrificed for the comforts of the few.

Blessings of Bhutan (A Latitude 20 Book)

Russ Carpenter, Blyth Carpenter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An Intriguing Introduction to Bhutan 5 out of 5 stars.
30 of 30 people found this review helpful.

"The Blessings of Bhutan" is a personal and fascinating compilation of very short, and very readable, essays (or "sketches") about authors Russ and Blyth Carpenter's experiences and understanding of Bhutanese life. The book is separated into eight parts covering Bhutanese culture and geography; ancient Bhutanese religion and its relationship to Buddhism and Bhutanese archery; Tantric Buddhism; Bhutanese art and medicine; reincarnation (especially as it applies to the environment); sexuality in Bhutanese culture; women in Bhutan; and the Carpenter's reflections on Bhutan's policy of "Gross National Happiness" and on Bhutan's future. The book also has a very useful glossary of terms that makes reading much easier as well as a recommending reading list.

The authors' love and admiration of Bhutan and Bhutanese people is very apparent in their sketches. While many things about Bhutan can easily baffle a tourist (like the almost contradictory sexual attitude of the Bhutanese or the concept of "Gross National Happiness"), they explain these things in terms of the Bhutanese culture. I found the book extremely easy to read and engaging, and appreciated the experiences the Carpenters shared as well as the facts. You can read the book back to front or just skip around and read about which aspects of the culture you're interested in.

This is the first book I have read about Bhutan, and I'm glad I got it!

Editorial Review:

This is an account of a complex nation on the cusp of tradition and modernity. Bhutan is distinctive - from its social structures to its development philosophy of Gross National Happiness. The authors blend narrative about the country's history, religon and arts with personal anecdotes.

India ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of India (Country Abcs)

Aboff, Marcie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

thank you so much 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

this book is wonderful. I as teacher and would recomend this littler and intreresting book to all the kids. Thank you so much for your nice service.

Editorial Review:

An alphabetical exploration of the people, geography, animals, history, and culture of India.