Bookshelf

Zealous Reformers, Deadly Laws:
Battling stereotypes
by Madhu Purnima Kishwar
Sage Publications, 2008

One has come to expect the outrageous and outlandish from Madhu Kishwar, one of India's best-known feminists (balk though she would at this appellation). This compendium of essays – from Manushi, India's first feminist magazine, launched in 1978 during the heyday of the women's movement in the country – is a collection of Kishwar's diatribes over the past 30 years. Kishwar analyses the failure of laws relating to dowry, domestic violence, sati, quotas for women, censorship and inheritance rights, but notably does not include pre-natal sex selection and rape – two areas in which enacting or amending the law has contributed in some measure to tackling these evils. While attempting to understand why laws passed to enforce women's rights have been less than successful, there is undoubtedly a need to critically review strategies, introspect and modify campaigns according to changing times. However, stripping social reform of its historical context, taking potshots at the women's movement and spouting wisdom in hindsight cannot form the basis of a serious analysis of legislative reform in India. (Laxmi Murthy)

The Girl with the Golden Parasol
by Uday Prakash
Penguin, 2008

Prakash tells the story of Rahul, a small-town student at a university in Madhya Pradesh. There, he and his friends are victimised by the goondocracy that has terrorised the campus, eventually causing one of their Manipuri friends, Sapam, to commit suicide – just a few days after his brother, a teacher, was mistaken as a 'terrorist' by the Indian security forces, and was executed. Rahul's life changes when a Brahmin minister's daughter, Anjali, walks into his life. At times, the attempt to pack this 205-page book with themes of nepotism, state terrorism, casteism, thuggery, globalisation and liberalisation seems a bit over the top. (Neha Inamdar)

Indo-US Nuclear Deal:
A reference compilation
edited by S K Pande
Media Centre, Delhi Union of
Journalists, 2007

Even as the Indian left's vehement opposition to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal currently threatens to undo the partnership with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and bring down the government at the Centre, the general public has only a foggy idea about the specifics of the issues involved. Pande's work is an attempt to bridge this gap. The collection of reference materials, ranging from the actual text of the '123' agreement to an interview with Manmohan Singh; statements and position papers by the left parties, George W Bush and V P Singh; as well as succinct analyses by veteran journalists and academicians, makes up for in content what it lacks in style and presentation. (LM)

Blood of the Earth:
The battle for the world's vanishing oil resources
by Dilip Hiro
Penguin (India), 2008

Like the paradigmatic steely-eyed, leather-booted wildcatter surveying his (presumably) petroleum-rich vistas, oil always makes people want to think big. The product's modern-day ubiquity certainly plays into this tendency. "A is for Aspirin," Dilip Hiro begins his 'petroleum alphabet' in this volume, before moving on to every other letter – save, oddly, for 'z'. Moreover, the plethora of monumental rise-and-fall stories lends itself to epic conspiracy theories. Simply quoting the oil industry's annual turnover – USD 2,400,000,000,000, a number that deserves to keep all of its zeros – is generally enough to convince most observers that there must be someone, somewhere in this industry that is up to no good.

There has in recent years grown up a veritable cottage industry detailing the ins and outs, insinuations and prognostications about this mammoth industry. Indeed, the impetus for this new glut of oil-related works has been the hurry to proclaim the oil industry's death knell. The rise in the number of books on 'peak oil' has coincided with an equally interesting trend: the social history of inanimate objects. Salt, Cod, The Toothpick and a host of other fascinating works have succeeded in elevating the mundane to the level of overarching explanation. Unfortunately, this is not that treatment for oil. Hiro does eventually offer a great back-handed zinger, however, to all those who have tried in the past to take such an effort too far: "Ultimately, it all boils down to speed," he writes, in an attempt to sum up oil's enduring modern priority, "the human race's unending quest for it on land and water and in the air." But are we looking to a slower future? Hiro speaketh not. (Carey L Biron)

The Rumbling Island:
True stories from the forests of India
edited by Zai Whitaker
Penguin 2008

Each of the 13 stories in this slim collection is teeming with colourful tales – some fascinating, some endearing and some plain terrifying – of the many creatures that roam the diverse natural landscapes of India. It goes without saying that true stories about a tigress playfully taking the author's neck in her jaws, and expeditions in search of 20-foot 'monster' crocodiles are always thrilling. What is particularly interesting about this book, however, is that the writers, all conservationists and nature lovers, narrate these extraordinary personal experiences without making them seem unnatural or exotic. And though the volume is marketed as a children's book, it does an excellent job of sparking the adult imagination. (Surabhi Pudasaini)