The Portable North American Indian Reader (Viking Portable Library)

Product Information

I am not sure if you have read it but “The Discovery of India” is definitely the best account of Indian History from one of her greatest citizens. As one reads the book , one can picturise Nehru sitting in Ahmednagar fort thinking about India, with pride while narrating her glorious past, with pity while narrating her then state (prior to Independence) and with determination and hope about her future. One can empathise with a great leader who was far ahead of his generation, whose thoughts are pertinent today. Nehru takes you through Indian history like a friend. If you have not read Nehru’s book it is high time you read it. The novel opens with a thrilling and terrifying horror scene, as we find Homi trapped on a train, standing in the open air and preparing to jump in a desperate attempt to escape her pursuer. But before she takes the leap, she is stopped by the very thing she is running from: a haggard-looking male stalker. Over the course of reading this book, sometimes I couldn't help but feel suffocated by his views (which were rather one dimensional in more than one instance). Also, his extreme anti-right stand was much too obvious. Ever heard of 'show, don't tell' Mr. Sen ... Fourth, his so-called secular attitude: one of the follies of the present day ‘seculars’ and ‘intellectuals’ of this country is to pounce upon every opportunity to prove how wrong the Hindu fundamentalists are with their stances and views, all the while expressing easy or even no opinions about the radical behaviors of such fundamentalists from other religions. Mr.Sen is guilty of this too. He even comes close to suggesting that the conflict of Kargil was a provocation more on the part of India, while mentioning that the part of Pakistan’s army regulars in that conflict may or may not be true. Really, Mr.Sen?! Attempting to sound neutral, Mr.Sen ends up sounding so annoying and without sense in many places, especially when he uses the negative word of ‘chauvinism’ to refer to the basic human inclination to praise one’s own country! The West Indian Americans introduces students and other interested readers to the diversity and cultural individuality of a growing segment of the American immigrant community. After an introductory chapter that describes the history and people of Jamaica and the other English-speaking Caribbean nations, their migration to the United States and patterns of adjustment and adaptation are discussed. Next, the West Indian cultural traditions, transferred to this country especially the churches, literature, music, and festivals, are evoked. Another chapter covers family networks, return migration, and remittances to those members left behind in the West Indies. Final chapters examine the new challenges for the West Indian Americans, such as identity issues, education and job prospects, and gang and drug problems, and the contributions of West Indian immigrants.

One of the reasons for the popularity of the genre could be because these writers are more accessible to the Indian reader. Instead of churning out Booker Prize classics which were “hard reads”, these books have appealed to mass readers who can now enjoy a story that is at once familiar yet compelling.

This is a very engaging collection of essays and lectures that Prof. Sen delivered on various occasions. To be fair, some parts of the book were really interesting (e.g. the sections dealing with the ideological standpoints of Gandhi and Tagore). But alas, the book is long, repetitive and well ... narrow in its scope.

Whichever literary framework you prefer, it must be said that Professor Sen is not an effortless writer. Cautious yes (footnotes, endnotes, and asterisks are abundant), but often at the expense of clarity. Bondurant, J. (1958). Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict. University of California Press. Holmes, J. H. (1950). Introduction. In M. K. Gandhi (Ed.), Gandhi’s Letters to a Disciple (pp. 3–5). Harper and Bros. The Argumentative Indian, by Amartya Sen, is a great experience through its essays divided into 4 parts. Regionalism. There is literally NO mention of Southern India in this book that is supposed to reflect the diversity of the country. Rookie mistake. I get that Sen is Bengali, and that Bengali culture obviously impacts the pan-Indian psyche, but it isn't the end all be all. When there are (at least) two chapters exclusively on Bengali figures, it shows how little effort Sen put towards presenting a diverse IndiaLejeune, P. (1989). On Autobiography (P. J. Eakin, Ed. and K. Leary, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press. These stories also have great reach. As Amish Tripathi said in an interview– the true readership lies among the non-English readers who constitute a considerable portion of the mass market. Face reading is connected to astrology closely. Both are used to predict the future; but while astrology uses planetary positions to determine a person’s life, face reading uses their facial features. a history of the councils of the church to the close of the council of nicea a d 325 tr from the german and ed by william r clark