Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life
Hindus and Muslims in India
Ashutosh Varshney
Oxford University Press, 2002
382 pages/Rs 495
This is a book of outstanding quality. Its strength is its ability to generalise from the specifics of a particular situation, without reducing the depth of the specificity. So the reader gets a sense of perspective without losing the richness of detail. To a large extent, the author has achieved this by situating the book between two synergistic but distinct areas of enquiry.
The book is a systematic attempt at examining and establishing the relationship between the structure of civic life and the presence of ethnic or communal violence in India. Though both these areas are well researched, they have largely remained independent of each other.
The book is built on the case studies of six Indian cities, of which three are riot-prone and three peaceful. From these case studies, Varshney does two things. The first
