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HT Picks: The most interesting books of the week
This week’s recommended reads include a book on India’s new entrepreneurial groups, a volume on the Emergency, and a look at how we, humankind, became the creatures we are today
INDIA’S NEW CAPITALISTS BY HARISH DAMODARAN
It’s no secret that certain social groups have predominated India’s business and trading history, with business traditionally being the preserve of particular ‘Bania’ communities. However, the past four or so decades have seen a widening of the social base of Indian capital, such that the social profile of Indian business had expanded beyond recognition, and entrepreneurship and commerce in India are no longer the exclusive bastion of the old mercantile castes.
In this meticulously researched book – acclaimed for being the first social history to document and understand India’s new entrepreneurial groups – Harish Damodaran looks to answer who the new ‘wealth creators’ are, as he trace the transitional entry of India’s middle and lower peasant castes into the business world.
Combining analytical rigour with journalistic flair, India’s New Capitalists is an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the culture and evolution of business in contemporary South Asia.
EMERGENCY CHRONICLES; INDIRA GANDHI AND DEMOCRACY’S TURNING POINT BY GYAN PRAKASH
As the world once again confronts an eruption of authoritarianism, Gyan Prakash’s Emergency Chronicles takes us back to the moment of India’s independence to offer a comprehensive historical account of Indira Gandhi’s Emergency of 1975-77. Stripping away the myth that this was a sudden event brought on solely by the then prime minister’s desire to cling to power, it argues that the Emergency was as much Indira’s doing as it was the product of Indian democracy’s troubled relationship with popular politics, and a turning point in its history.
Prakash delves into the chronicles of the preceding years to reveal how the fine balance between state power and civil right was upset by the unfulfilled promise of democratic transformation. He explains how growing unrest disturbed Indira’s regime, prompting her to turn to the law to suspend lawful rights, wounding the political system further and opening the door for caste politics and Hindu nationalism.
THE BOOK OF HUMANS; THE STORY OF HOW WE BECAME US BY ADAM RUTHERFORD
We like to think of ourselves as exceptional beings, but is there really anything special about us that sets us apart from other animals? Humans are the slightest of twigs on a family tree that encompasses all organisms, rooted in a single origin, with a common code that underwrites our existence. This paradox – that our biology is indistinct from all life, yet we consider ourselves to be special – lies at the heart of who we are.
In this original and entertaining tour of life on Earth, Adam Rutherford explores how many of the things once considered to be exclusively human are not, and tells the story of how we became the creatures we are today. Illuminated by the latest scientific discoveries, the Book of Humans is a thrilling compendium of what makes us animals, and reveals how we are extraordinary among them.
