Staff Picks
25 Non Fiction Books About India
- Mona Verma
- Monday, September 28, 2020
Collection
Here is a snapshot of the several non fiction books on India in our collection. Do browse through these titles which range in topics from politics, to economics, to travel, food and culture. These books will serve as a looking glass into India.
Fodor's Essential India
Published in 2019
Getting India Back on Track
An Action Agenda for Reform
Published in 2014
India has fallen far and fast from the runaway growth rates it enjoyed in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In order to reverse this trend, New Delhi must seriously reflect on its policy choices across a wide range of issue areas. Getting India Back on Track broadly coincides with the 2014 Indian elections to spur a public debate about the program that the next government should pursue in order to return the country to a path of high growth. It convenes some of India's most accomplished analysts to recommend policies in every major sector of the Indian economy. Taken together, these seventeen focused and concise memoranda offer policymakers and the general public alike a clear blueprint for India's future.
India.
Published in 2019
Authentic Regional Cuisine of India
Food Fo the Grand Trunk Road
Published in 2016
Authentic Regional Cuisine of India is a beautifully written and illustrated cook book, as well as a travelogue and history of the famous Grand Trunk Road since its emergence as India's first route for traders. The book follows Hardeep Singh Kohli's travels along this age-old route, starting in Calcutta and linking with Lucknow, Aligargh, and Delhi before curling north into the Punjab. This book takes a fascinating look at the food, culture and traditions that have sprung up along the road, with recipes that reflect the eating traditions of the real India. The recipes are provided by Anirudh Arora, head chef at Moti Mahal in London, who has devoted his career to researching the long-forgotten cuisine of rural India as found along the old Grand Trunk Road. Nostalgic favorites include 'bhalla papadi chaat,' a dish discovered in the streets of North India featuring crisp-fried pastry and chickpeas with a tamarind and mint chutney. From the seductive barbecued flavours of the Punjab to the sublime dals and vegetarian food of Lucknow, this is an eye-opening look at Indian food.
India
A Portrait
Published in 2011
Second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle and second to none in its potential to shape the new century, India is fast undergoing one of the most momentous transformations the world has ever seen. In this panoramic book, Patrick French chronicles that epic change, telling human stories to explain a larger national narrative. Melding on-the-ground reports with a deep knowledge of history, French exposes the cultural foundations of India's political, economic and social complexities. He reveals how a nation identified with some of the most wretched poverty on earth has simultaneously developed an envied culture of entrepreneurship. Even more remarkably, he shows how, despite the ancient and persistent traditions of caste, as well as a mind-boggling number of ethnicities and languages, India has nevertheless managed to cohere, evolving into the world's largest democracy, largely fulfilling Jawaharlal Nehru's dream of a secular liberal order.--From publisher description.
India Calling
An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking
Published in 2011
An American-born son of Indian parents describes his stay in India, observing the dilemmas and contradictions of the country and recounting the stories of individuals from industrialists and religious seekers to entrepreneurs and everyday families.
In Another Country
Colonialism, Culture, and the English Novel in India
Published in 2005
In a work of stunning archival recovery and interpretive virtuosity, Priya Joshi illuminates the cultural work performed by two kinds of English novels in India during the colonial and postcolonial periods. Spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, readers and writers, empire and nation, consumption and production, In Another Country vividly explores a process by which first readers and then writers of the English novel indigenized the once imperial form and put it to their own uses. Asking what nineteenth-century Indian readers chose to read and why, Joshi shows how these readers transformed the literary and cultural influences of empire. By subsequently analyzing the eventual rise of the English novel in India, she further demonstrates how Indian novelists, from Krupa Satthianadhan to Salman Rushdie, took an alien form in an alien language and used it to address local needs. Taken together in this manner, reading and writing reveal the complex ways in which culture is continually translated and transformed in a colonial and postcolonial context.
India Becoming
A Portrait of Life in Modern India
Published in 2012
"A portrait of incredible change and economic development, of social and national transformation told through individual lives. The son of an Indian father and an American mother, Akash Kapur spent his formative years in India and his early adulthood in the United States. In 2003, he returned to his birth country for good, eager to be part of its exciting growth and modernization. What he found was a nation even more transformed than he had imagined, where the changes were fundamentally altering Indian society, for better and sometimes for worse. To further understand these changes, he sought out the Indians experiencing them firsthand. The result is a rich tapestry of lives being altered by economic development, and a fascinating insider's look at manyof the most important forces shaping our world today. Much has been written about the rise of Asia and a rebalancing of the global economy, but rarely does one encounter these big stories with the level of nuance and detail that Kapur gives us in India Becoming. Among the characters we meet are a broker of cows who must adapt his trade to a modernizing economy; a female call center employee whose relatives worry about her values in the city; a feudal landowner who must accept that he will not pass his way of life down to his children; and a career woman who wishes she could 'outsource' having a baby. Through these stories and many others, Kapur provides a fuller understanding of the complexity and often contradictory nature of modern India. India Becoming is particularly noteworthy for its emphasis on rural India -- a region often neglected in writing about the country, though 70 percent of the population still lives there. In scenes reminiscent of R.K. Narayan's classic works on the Indian countryside, Kapur builds intimate portraits of farmers, fishermen, and entire villages whose ancient ways of life are crumbling, giving way to an uncertain future that is at once frightening and full of promise. Kapur himself grew up in rural India; his descriptions of change and modernization are infused with a profound -- at times deeply poignant -- firsthand understanding of the loss that must accompany all development and progress. India Becoming is essential reading for anyone interested in our changing world and the newly emerging global order. It is a riveting narrative that puts the personal into a broad, relevant and revelational context"-- Provided by publisher.
From India
Food, Family & Tradition
Published in 2016
"Vannakkam" is a Tamil saying meaning "welcome," and that's just what this beautiful cookbook does-it welcomes you to a finer level of Indian cuisine. Kumar Mahadevan, the talented chef behind Australia's iconic restaurants Abhi's and Aki's, weaves over 100 recipes with the unique tale of his family's journey from India to Australia. A spicy blend of contemporary food and authentic cooking, From India covers seafood dishes such as rava methi machi, vegetarian sides such as gutti venkai koora, and a full lineup of traditional curries, organized according to the tastes: salty, bitter, sour, spicy, and sweet. This flavorful trip, with roots in Ayurvedic principles, will take you from the regional fare of India to the streets of Australia without ever leaving your own kitchen.
Maximum City
Bombay Lost and Found
Published in 2005
A portrait of Bombay, India, and its people chronicles the everyday life of the city and its inhabitants, from the criminal underworld of rival Muslim and Hindu gangs to the diverse people who come from the villages in search of a better life.
The Emperor of All Maladies
A Biography of Cancer
Published in 2010
A historical assessment of cancer addresses both the courageous battles against the complex disease and the misperceptions and hubris that have compromised modern understandings, covering such topics as ancient-world surgeries and the developments of present-day treatments.
Recasting India
How Entrepreneurship is Revolutionizing the World's Largest Democracy
Published in 2014
"Twenty years after India opened its economy, it faces severe economic problems, including staggering income inequality. A third of its citizens still lack adequate food, education, and basic medical services, while Mumbai businessman Mukesh Ambani lives in the most expensive home in the world, which cost over a billion dollars to build. Despite the fact that India now has a Mars mission, there are still more mobile phones than toilets in the country. In most places, such a disparity would have the locals pounding at the gates. So why no Arab Spring for India? Hindol Sengupta, senior editor of Fortune India, argues that the only thing holding it back is the explosion of local entrepreneurship across the country. While these operations are a far cry from the giant companies owned by India's ruling billionaires, they are drastically changing its politics, upending the old caste system, and creating a "middle India" full of unprecedented opportunity. Like Gazalla Amin whose flourishing horticulture business in the heart of Kashmir has given her the title 'lavender queen.' Or Sunil Zode, who stole the first shoes he ever wore and now drives a Mercedes, thanks to his thriving pesticide business. Sengupta shows that the true potential of India is even larger than the world perceives, since the economic miracle unfolding in its small towns and villages is not reflected in its stock markets. He reveals an India rarely seen by the larger world--the millions of ordinary, enterprising people who are redefining the world's largest democracy"-- Provided by publisher.
India
Published in 2015
#1 best-selling guide to India! Lonely Planet India is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Admire the perfect symmetry of the Taj Mahal, ride a camel through the moonlit desert or cruise the lush backwaters of Kerala; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of India and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's India Travel Guide: - Colour maps and images throughout - Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests - Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots - Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices - Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss - Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - temples, cuisine, history, art, Hinduism, architecture, politics, landscapes, wildlife, customs, volunteering, yoga, ashrams, trekking - Over 199 colour maps - Covers Delhi's bazaars, the Taj Mahal, Rajasthan's forts and deserts, Goa's beaches, Kerala's backwaters, Mumbai's colonial-era buildings, Darjeeling's tea plantations, Khajuraho's ancient temples, Himalayan monasteries and more... eBook Features: (Best viewed on tablet devices and smartphones) - Effortlessly navigate and jump between maps and reviews - Add notes to personalise your guidebook experience - Seamlessly flip between pages - Bookmarks and speedy search capabilities get you to key pages in a flash - Embedded links to recommendations' websites - Zoom-in maps and images - Inbuilt dictionary for quick referencing ... The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet India, our most comprehensive guide to India, is perfect for both exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled. Looking for just the highlights of India? Check out Discover India, a photo-rich guide to India's most popular attractions. Looking for a guide focused on Delhi, Agra, Rajasthan, Goa, Mumbai, South India or Kerala? Check out Lonely Planet's South India & Kerala guide, Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra guide, or Goa & Mumbai guide for a comprehensive look at all that these regions have to offer.
Art of India
Published in 2015
If the 'Palace of Love', otherwise known as the Taj Mahal, is considered to be the emblem of Mughal Art, it is by no means the sole representative. Characterised by its elegance, splendor, and Persian and European influences, Mughal Art manifests itself equally well in architecture and painting as in decorative art.