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In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India
by
Edward Luce
As the world's largest democracy and a rising international economic power, India has long been heralded for its great strides in technology and trade. Yet it is also plagued by poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and a vast array of other social and economic issues. Here, noted journalist and former Financial Times South Asia bureau chief Edward Luce travels throughout Ind...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
March 11th 2008
by Anchor
(first published January 1st 2007)
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Warning - this review contains many spoilers
In Luce’s book, India is a land of a few brilliant high flyers on the one hand, and poverty-stricken masses on the other. The high flyers have brought success to their homeland, but he barely touches up their achievements, instead the book concentrates on the wrongs experienced by the bulk of the population. I found the book quite a hotch-potch of information , but fascinating nonetheless.
Problems with the bulk of the poplulation
*There is fantasticall...more
Warning - this review contains many spoilers
In Luce’s book, India is a land of a few brilliant high flyers on the one hand, and poverty-stricken masses on the other. The high flyers have brought success to their homeland, but he barely touches up their achievements, instead the book concentrates on the wrongs experienced by the bulk of the population. I found the book quite a hotch-potch of information , but fascinating nonetheless.
Problems with the bulk of the poplulation
*There is fantasticall...more
9 likes · like · see review
view all 22 comments
Oct 01, 2007
Theresa Mannix
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in India, of course.
Shelves:
excellentnon-fiction
My limited view of India was of a country of Bollywood movies, curry, Indian customer service call centers, poverty, hundreds of millions of people, slums and more poverty. This pretty readable book gave me a, well, broader view of India. It's a crazy place--incredible diversity with a democracy that seems to work. Some facts just stuck with me: less than 10% of India's 1.1 billion people work in the formal work force and 80% of them work for the government. The bureaucracy is monumentally corru...more
4 likes · like · see review
Well-researched and well-presented. Luce's style is engaging, and he turns a wry joke.
The book comes at a good time as the West has never been more coo-coo for cocoa puffs about India. Most of these warm feelings are about India's relatively recent IT (and overall economic) revolution. To a lesser extent they are also about our resurgent (or maybe just surgent) interest in India's spiritual traditions. Luce disavows both narratives in the preface, and it's the realism of his approach that made t...more
The book comes at a good time as the West has never been more coo-coo for cocoa puffs about India. Most of these warm feelings are about India's relatively recent IT (and overall economic) revolution. To a lesser extent they are also about our resurgent (or maybe just surgent) interest in India's spiritual traditions. Luce disavows both narratives in the preface, and it's the realism of his approach that made t...more
Suppose you threw a dinner party and your guests represented the entire population of the world. You only have 22 seats at your table, so some gusts must share. Because of its dangerous nature, you decide that the US gets one whole seat to itself. India gets almost four of your remaining chairs and China takes up the next four and a half. By contrast, England must share its seat with five other nations.
Clearly when you take up that many plates, you should be paid some respect. Yet other than ta...more
Clearly when you take up that many plates, you should be paid some respect. Yet other than ta...more
A comprehensive take on contemporary India, that also attempts the most difficult task of trying to analyse why India is India! Found it eminently readable, very perceptive with its insights and written with a combination of affection and frustration that all of us can relate to. The tone remains optimistic about India's future in the twenty-first century but there is also abundant sprinkling of caution - it is up to India to lose! All Indian bureaucrats and politicos should get a complimentary...more
I'll be frank - each part of the book is factual and correct. Yet, it misses the mark as whole. Reading Mr. Luce's biography, I had expected he is a westerner (for want of a better word) who also understands the spirit of what drives India as a nation. After reading his book, I have realized yet again, that living in India with a mindset of a non-Indian makes you a good factual historian but not someone who can put a finger on India's nerve. Most of his book is spent on the corruption and indivi...more
In Spite of the Gods - The Strange Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce has captured my attention ever since I bought the book a couple of days ago. Buy it, read it, memorise it. While I've just reached chapter three, because I've been slowed by making notes, and do intend to write a review next week from broadband blanketed Singapore, I've been enamoured enough to recommend it highly.
Lucidly written [yes I know, but could you resist?] Luce writes possibly the most comprehensive and insightful bo
...more
Here's my review on this bad book on amazon.
"I am sure at the end of this review most of you will stamp me as fanatic who 's not willing to see the shortfalls of India. However, please consider my observation before making your decision. I was disappointed in this book because it has no point! Am not sure he established why india is successful or if it was inspite of the gods. In my opinion, this was a feeble attempt by a journalist who was not qualified to comment on either one of the topics. M...more
"I am sure at the end of this review most of you will stamp me as fanatic who 's not willing to see the shortfalls of India. However, please consider my observation before making your decision. I was disappointed in this book because it has no point! Am not sure he established why india is successful or if it was inspite of the gods. In my opinion, this was a feeble attempt by a journalist who was not qualified to comment on either one of the topics. M...more
3 likes · like · see review
Sep 04, 2009
Frank Jude
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
especially yogis with an overly romantic view of the "Indian Paradox"
Shelves:
cultural-history
Journalist Edward Luce offers a wonderful reportage and analysis of modern India: it's roots in tradition, it's political structures, its corruption, its contradictions. Too often people fall into either condemnation or fawning romanticism regarding India. This book provides a balanced view. It is clear Luce loves India, and loves it enough to hold it's hypocrisy to the light of critical investigation... not to bring it down, but to envision what a more efficient, egalitarian, less tradition-bou...more
A poignant perspective by the editor of the financial times of the enigma that is India. How the country functions and how it grows is as big a mystery as how they get a deity of Lord Ganesha to drink milk. Nonetheless, the book offers some very interesting insight into the strengths and apparent weaknesses holding India. In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India is as much of a testament to India's potential as a referendum on its weaknesses.
I was not very excited when I picked up this book (title hinted towards religious philosophy in India) but surprisingly this book turned out to be spell-bounding work on contemporary India. Even though Edward Luce has much of his background in financial reporting, he captured the philosophy and details of rising India quite beautifully. Edward Luce knows how India works and how the society moves here. The book is full of interviews with small and big names varying from Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandh...more
Very thought provoking analysis of India. While being critical, the Author's love for the country seems to come right through.
The amount of history he covers is vast and sometimes he touches very fleetingly on subjects leaving you hungry for more. There are times when I felt, he generalised issues by stretching them over the entire country. To be fair, he does assert India's multifacetedness many times.
All in all a good read.
The amount of history he covers is vast and sometimes he touches very fleetingly on subjects leaving you hungry for more. There are times when I felt, he generalised issues by stretching them over the entire country. To be fair, he does assert India's multifacetedness many times.
All in all a good read.
Jul 30, 2012
Michael
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
current-issues,
history
I purchased this book without knowing anything about it, and I was a bit disappointed by the lack of historical perspective in the book. The subtitle seems to suggest that the book will look at present-day India as a consequence of the past, but Mr. Luce has basically provided simply a snapshot of the present. That being said, the book does paint a fairly thorough picture of many aspects of modern India. He explores the current political and social climates at length, and it makes for an interes...more
Most books on India are very difficult to read. This nation is too diverse to try and get a broad scope on it....normally you have to look at only one small part of it and hope to grasp it then move to something else.
This book though is an exception. The author does an amazing job at looking at how India has risen since independence and at the same time acknowledging all tht is still wrong within the nation. As an outsider that worked in Delhi for numerous years and married into an Indian family...more
This book though is an exception. The author does an amazing job at looking at how India has risen since independence and at the same time acknowledging all tht is still wrong within the nation. As an outsider that worked in Delhi for numerous years and married into an Indian family...more
Mistitled here. It's not the "strange" rise of modern India, just "the rise of modern India." I don't usually dig nonfiction, but this was at once both an entertaining and illuminating look at modern India from an outsider who clearly knows the place well and loves it dearly. He's boiling the ocean, without a doubt, but it's a good primer. Just one person's perspective, but a well-researched, well-reasoned one.
I'm traveling to India in March and knew next to nothing about India when I started this book. I came away with a much better understanding of the conflicts and dichotomies India grapples with as exponential development continues: Hindus and Muslims, Brahmins and Dalits, rapid urban development and abject rural poverty, democracy and corruption. For the most part, I found Luce informative and engaging. The material could be dry, but I appreciated that he spiced it up with anecdotes and vignettes...more
Fantastic summary of the contradictions of a developing world unbroken democracy, and unbroken civilisation. India is a huge nation of extremes difficult to summarise, and this book makes an excellent attempt at explaining the obvious disparity bewteen the engineering succeses of modern India, and the crushing poverty of the majority.
Fascinating. The coverage of history, and intertwined with the present. As an Indian, there were things I myself did not know, and Luce left me hungry for more information.
The gratifying feature was that Ed Luce, unlike most other writers, was not wary of presenting his own opinions.
The gratifying feature was that Ed Luce, unlike most other writers, was not wary of presenting his own opinions.
I would recommend this book to people who are interested in learning more about the current state of India and it's recent rise. Luce, a journalist with the Financial Times who has extensively covered India and South Asia gives a good, broad overview of many topics.
As an Indian-American, I can certainly appreciate the enormous complexity that is India and I think that Luce breaks India down into bite-sized pieces.
His major topics include the intrusion of the state into Indian life and commerce...more
As an Indian-American, I can certainly appreciate the enormous complexity that is India and I think that Luce breaks India down into bite-sized pieces.
His major topics include the intrusion of the state into Indian life and commerce...more
Edward Luce covers all his grounds when it comes to the economic strengths and weaknesses of the rising India. Yet in that analysis is lost the social and cultural facets of the diverse nation. India's unmatched power and her Achilles heel are her vastly different populations that are deeply rooted in history and tradition. Reading 'In Spite of the Gods" one seems to forget that cultural existence, a fatal mistake when considering the Bharat and its future.
Would recommend as a read to those liv...more
Would recommend as a read to those liv...more
This is definitely one of the best geopolitical books I've read about India yet. Edward Luce, a correspondent with the Financial Times, has clearly done his research. He is also very evidently familiar with India as a whole. In their attempt to try to understand the mystery that is India, many authors tend to fall into the trap of trying to describe all of India as one big monolith. Luce is very cautious to specify his observations, distinguishing them by geography (urban-rural, north-south, eas...more
my cousin from delhi gave me this, and i read it while traveling in india.
it's a great overview of where india is and is poised to go in the 21st century. luce explains india's dynasty politics (nehru/gandhi) and religious context to help the reader understand how india's bureaucracy, system of government, conflict with pakistan, treatment of muslims, relationship with china and the US, and current economic drivers will play a role in india becoming the next great superpower.
his conclusion is t...more
it's a great overview of where india is and is poised to go in the 21st century. luce explains india's dynasty politics (nehru/gandhi) and religious context to help the reader understand how india's bureaucracy, system of government, conflict with pakistan, treatment of muslims, relationship with china and the US, and current economic drivers will play a role in india becoming the next great superpower.
his conclusion is t...more
Eye-opening account of modern India
getAbstract recommends this excellent, well-written work of reportage on India. Edward Luce provides a colorful, striking picture of the country and its unconventional path to development. Within the past several years, numerous books have been published about so-called “Chindia,” the phenomenon of the economic emergence of the two most populous nations on earth. Luce makes it very clear that categorizing India with any other place, including the ever-intriguin...more
getAbstract recommends this excellent, well-written work of reportage on India. Edward Luce provides a colorful, striking picture of the country and its unconventional path to development. Within the past several years, numerous books have been published about so-called “Chindia,” the phenomenon of the economic emergence of the two most populous nations on earth. Luce makes it very clear that categorizing India with any other place, including the ever-intriguin...more
I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about how Indian government functions. The author is British, but married to an Indian and lived there many years. He does a good job of comparing and contrasting the Indian way of seeing the world with the typical "western" way. But, he's an economist - and some of his suggestions for how India should move in the future seem very backward to me. For example, he says small farmers need to sell the land so that it can be consolidated into big farms with heavy...more
Smooth and well-written, as to be expected by a FT corespondent, I was expecting something a little deeper as a primer on modern India. Because Luce uses so much primary sourcing (as a good reporter would), the book is a bit dated. India is such a fast moving target, this is to be expected from something conceived in the first Bush administration and finished in the second. I also question Luce's premise, which colors his discussion of India's economy and social change, of a "tripod" 21st centur...more
An excellent account of social/political development in modern India (basically since the time I left India for the US).
Mar 15, 2011
Hemanshu Das
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
needs to know about India
Shelves:
love-dem-nd-alwz-kep-dem,
non-fiction
My lone train journey was made so so interesting.... Being an Indian, the book stated facts and perceptions that Indians have a thorough understanding in. But to see these feelings being penned down by a foreign author both excited and astonished me... Edward's understanding of India is critical, but he does cut the administrative some slack. His thorough understanding of how d IAS system works in India is reflected in the book.
Being a Nehru admirer, I do find him a little critical of Nehru but...more
Being a Nehru admirer, I do find him a little critical of Nehru but...more
As someone who thought of India as a forbidden caste that should I try to learn about it, I might end up overwhelmed and in over my head, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that India was just as messed up as I think of the US! And comparing it to China, I thought India seemed to be a much more like-minded place to live than there, maybe because they're a democracy. But it does have a lot of problems, like the caste system, pollution, and the fact that it's hard to get a decent education if...more
Apr 29, 2013
Eddy Allen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
arts-and-historical
In Spite of the Gods illuminates a land of many contradictions. The booming tech sector we read so much about in the West, Luce points out, employs no more than one million of India’s 1.1 billion people. Only 35 million people, in fact, have formal enough jobs to pay taxes, while three-quarters of the country lives in extreme deprivation in India’s 600,000 villages. Yet amid all these extremes exists the world’s largest experiment in representative democracy—and a largely successful one, despite...more
Luce provides a comprehensive journey through the social, political, and religious challenges and contradictions that are both plague and charm to the worlds biggest democracy. His grasp of the nuances and undertones of all of these cross sectional tensions is unparalleled. This is a highly equipping book for any Western business leader seeking a crash course in this vibrant land. His final chapter on India's reform agenda should be required reading for politicians and regulators.
All that said,...more
All that said,...more
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