Shreekant Sambrani

Gautam Bhatia's book offers a refreshing critique of India's Constitution

The basic dichotomy Dr Bhatia addresses is between the Constitution and courtrooms as sources of progressive and transformative social change and the Constitution as a statement of power

The Gujaratis: Salil Tripathi's book shines but falters under its ambition

The book, he says in the epilogue, has been the labour of love: Eight years of interviewing 213 people and the reading of more than 100 books about the state

A tale of two Mohans: Missed opportunities in a meandering narrative

The back cover of The Other Mohan in Britain's Indian Ocean Empire calls it part travelogue, part family history, and scholarly. This reviewer disagrees

A pointless epitaph: Clumsy retelling mars Coomar Narain scandal revisit

Kallol Bhattacherjee's 'A Singular Spy' attempts to tell an espionage tale but leaves many key questions unanswered

The Nagarwala scandal, unreconstructed

Journalists Prakash Patra and Rasheed Kidwai revisit the 1971 SBI scam after reviewing declassified documents, but with underwhelming results

Rushdie at the cutting edge

Knife is Rushdie's graphic account of the attack and his recovery interlaced with the love story of Rushdie and his current wife, Rachel Eliza Griffith

Rediscovering Márquez

As India stands at the threshold of an election, a Márquez comment assumes unusual significance

Why American democracy is not in decline

Jill Lepore's collection of essays takes readers on a guided tour through the rise and presumed decline of the US, with Trump emerging as the ultimate object of the author's scorn

How not to write history

Rosie Llewellyn-Jones's book explores the impact of East India Company on India, but it fails to address why British influence remained patchy, unlike in North America of the Antipodes

'There is only one Robert'

Oppenheimer covers the peak period of Oppie's life, from his student days in the 1920s until a kangaroo-court hearing that denied him a security clearance in 1951

Tomorrow's world: Comforting incrementalism

Journalist Hamish McRae's book predicting future events lacks novelty in the projections compared to some other publications

Rushdie's City of Words

His version of the history of the Vijayanagara Empire puts at rest doubts about his creative talents that may have crept up after his last few works of fiction

The worldly philosophers

David Runciman's timely book examines the views of a dozen philosophers on the subject of state power: On what principles does the state enjoy power over its citizens and what limits its control?

Arun Jaitley's India: A pol's stump handbook

The thoughts of the former finance minister compiled in a book could prove to be a handy guide for the many BJP spokespersons for their public and media appearances

India's roller-coaster ride to growth

Professor Balakrishnan dwells on key events and indicators rather than drawing up an extensive listing of milestones and data

Reflections of a conscientious witness to history

Book review of India After 1947: Reflections and recollections

Dealing with Black Swans

A Princeton economist convincingly shows that human enterprise and innovation could yet cope with them successfully

Clarion call to courtiers

This collection of 50 sketches, which the author Rasheed Kidwai calls "obituaries", bears a somewhat misleading subtitle

Colonial kedgeree (uncooked)

Mr Akbar steers us through the incident-crowded book as to how the British came and lived in India

The magnificent seven

Ramachandra Guha's work on westerners who devoted themselves to the cause of Indian freedom lives up to the high standards set by his earlier books