When the British dismantled what they called the Indian empire, they shattered it repeatedly, unevenly and often inadvertently. ‘Partition’ is usually remembered as a single cataclysm in 1947 - the vivisection of British India into India and Pakistan. Yet, as Sam Dalrymple reminds readers in his ambitious and meticulously crafted ‘Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia’, that rupture was only one act in a longer imperial unravelling. Between 1937 and 1971, the empire s

Published at the height of the Cold War, Starship Troopers shocked readers with its unapologetic militarism and strict civic philosophy. First edition dust jacket of Starship Troopers Robert A. Heinlein It came as quite a surprise back in March to learn there is to be another film adaptation of Starship Troopers, perhaps science fiction grand master Robert A. Heinlein’s most controversial novel. With no confirmed release date, this new adaption is set to be written and direct

Justice Ranade’s 1900 classic remains a foundational text of Maratha historiography that sought to reinterpret Maharashtra’s past as a disciplined national effort. When Mahadev Govind Ranade published ‘Rise of the Maratha Power’ in 1900, he was better known as a judge and reformer than as a historian. Yet, this book (more accurately, a collection of essays), issued in collaboration with his fellow jurist K. T. Telang, became the founding text of Maratha historiography. In a l

In a literary era crowded with climate fiction, Amitav Ghosh’s ‘Gun Island’ stands apart not for its science, but for its faith in myth, in migration and in the enduring power of the tale itself. In Gun Island, Amitav Ghosh performs a literary sleight of hand that merges the mythic and the modern, the ecological and the existential into an ambrosial cocktail of narrative craft. First published in 2019, the novel is at once a fable and a forecast, a story that straddles contin

Dr J. M. Waghmare’s book is more than a history lesson—it’s a call to reclaim the secular, inclusive spirit that built modern India. Dr...

William L. Shirer’s searing account of the Third Republic’s collapse remains the most readable narrative of France’s humiliation in 1940....

Frederick Forsyth perfected the geopolitical thriller by making fact indistinguishable from fiction. It was 1996. I was visiting my...

Charting the essential literature to understand ‘D-Day’ or the invasion of Normandy, 81 years on. Each June, as the dwindling band of...

I have been a vegetarian my entire life, and lately, I’ve been contemplating going vegan. However, the thought of life without paneer...

In the annals of Indian industry, the name Kirloskar carries undeniable weight. It conjures up images of mechanical ingenuity and the...

There was a time when war films aspired to something greater than the blood-spattered grit of today or tightly choreographed mayhem. They...

I remember the first time I encountered the idea that geography determines destiny. It was in Jared Diamond’s ‘Guns, Germs, and Steel’...

Many years ago, I left a bag full of books at Dubai International Airport - a book-lover’s nightmare. Among the casualties were two...

At a time when strongmen strut the global stage and democracy so often finds itself in retreat, a book published in the autumn of 1939...

In the 18th century, when Montesquieu, the French philosopher, argued for the separation of powers in his groundbreaking work De L'Esprit...

Every so often, amidst the deluge of World War II literature, some books emerge that feel like a revelation. The year 2024 proved...

William Dalrymple’s The Golden Road is a luminous tapestry that dazzles the intellect and the imagination alike. With his trademark...