The Granta Book Of India

Description

The Granta Book of India brings together, for the first time, evocative, personal and informative pieces from previous editions of Granta magazine, all on the experiences of Indian life, culture and politics. Chitra Banerji: What Bengali widows cannot eat; Mark Tully on his childhood in Calcutta; Ian Jack: 'Unsteady People' - on unexpected parallels between Bihar and Britain; Urvashi Butalia on tracing her long-lost uncle; a poem by Salman Rushdie about the fatwa; Ramachandra Guha: What we think of America; Nirad Chaudhuri writing on his 100th birthday; Rory Stewart among the dervishes of Pakistan; Pankaj Mishra on the making of jihadis in Pakistan; Suketu Mehta on Mumbai. PLUS: fiction by R K Narayan, Amit Chaudhuri and Nell Freudenberger.

Ian Jack edited Granta from 1995 to 2007, having previously edited the Independent on Sunday. He has written on many subjects, including the Titanic, Kathleen Ferrier, the Hatfield train crash and the three members of the IRA active-service unit who were killed on Gibraltar. He is the editor of The Granta Book of Reportage and The Granta Book of India, and the author of a collection of journalism, The Country Formerly Known as Great Britain. He lives in London and now writes for the Guardian.

'As one would expect, there is a five- star list of contributors ranging from Chitra Banerjee to Salman Rushdie and Mark Tully' "The Bookseller "(Travel Bookseller")"'All are eminently readable' "Business Standard" (New Delhi)'India can't even begin to be done in 287 pages, but Granta does a creditable job of shining at least a flickering torchlight on its many paradoxes'" Outlook" (New Delhi) 'A thoughtful anthology... a true insight into modern India from both inside and out... entertaining, informative and intriguing style... innovative writing... presents a broad sense of the culture that is well worth a read'"The Big Issue Wales" 'India is reflected from breathtakingly varied angles in these 18 engaging pieces of memoir, reportage and fiction... They offer windows into India's diverse culture, politics and lifestyles from rich and poor, insiders and outsiders'"Observer" 'A gallimaufry to pack with the guidebook'"The Telegraph" 'There's humour and every other range of human emotion in "The Granta Book of India'""Traveller magazine" 'Here we have the steady hand of Ian Jack at the helm as writer after writer offers us their views on India and what it is like to be Indian, either by birth or default... Eighteen writers, each one with something precious to impart'"Irish Times" 'Even those who do not have any great fascination with India will find this collection of 18 stories an interesting read... a glimpse of India's recent history through experiences of life, culture and politics. Ian Jack... gives an entertaining snapshot of the past three decades in his introduction'"Colchester Evening Gazette"