New York Times Book Review Editor's ChoiceThe shocking story of the massacre of a group of Nepalese men working as Defense contractors for the United States Government during the Iraq War, and the widow who dedicated her life to finding justice for her husband and the other victims—a riveting tale of courageous heroes, corporate war profiteers, international business, exploitation, trafficking, and human rights in the age of global capitalism that reveals ...

What was Ajay Gupta doing on Thabo Mbeki's ‘secret’ advisory council?Did the Guptas play a role in Jacob Zuma's rise to power?How did the Guptas capture South African cricket?What is their interest in the controversial nuclear procurement deal?What influence have they had in the hiring and firing of cabinet ministers?The Guptas rose to national infamy when a commercial airliner packed with guests for a family wedding was allowed to land at Air Force ...

Five books of essays in one volume from the Booker Prize–winner and "one of the most ambitious and divisive political essayists of her generation" ( The Washington Post).With a new introduction by Arundhati Roy, this new collection begins with her pathbreaking book The Cost of Living—published soon after she won the Booker Prize for her novel The God of Small Things—in which she forcefully condemned India's nuclear tests and its construct...

A journalist's account of investigating Gurmeet Ram Rahim and his empire of exploitation How did a nondescript young man from a farming family become the head of a quasi-religious sect with a million followers willing to die and kill for their 'Pitaji'? The story of the rise of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan of the wildly popular Dera Sacha Sauda is anything but ordinary. It allegedly involved sexual exploitation, forced castrations, private militias, illegal trade in arms and opium, and la...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE FT & MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2018A Financial Times Book of the Year and an Amazon Top 100 Book of the YearIndia’s explosive rise has driven inequality to new extremes, with millions trapped in slums as billionaires spend lavishly and dodge taxes. Controversial prime minister Narendra Modi promised ‘to break the grip’ of the Bollygarchs, but many tycoons continue to thrive amidst the scandals, ex...

“[A] sharply observed study . . . richly detailed portraits.”—EconomistSomini Sengupta emigrated from Calcutta to California as a young child in 1975. Returning thirty years later as the bureau chief for The New York Times, she found a vastly different country: one defined as much by aspiration and possibility—at least by the illusion of possibility—as it is by the structures of sex and caste. The End of Karma is an exploration of this ne...

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of Ghost Wars and The Achilles Trap,a trek across a socially and politically damaged South AsiaBestselling author Steve Coll is one of the preeminent journalists of the twenty-first century. His last two books, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars and New York Times bestseller The Bin Ladens, have been praised for their creative insight and complex yet compelling na...

How did a 'chai wallah' who sold tea on trains as a boy become Prime Minister of India?On May 16, 2014, Narendra Modi was declared the winner of the largest election ever conducted anywhere in the world, having fought a campaign unlike any before.Political parties in Britain, Australia and North America pride themselves on the sophistication of their election strategies, but Modi's campaign was a master-class in modern electioneering. His team created an election machine th...

Vir Sanghvi's has been an interesting life - one that took him to Oxford, movie and political journalism, television and magazines - and he depicts it with the silky polish his readers expect of him. In A Rude Life, he turns his dispassionate observer's gaze on himself, and in taut prose tells us about all that he's experienced, and nothing more for he's still a private man. He unhurriedly recounts memories from his childhood and college years, moving on to give us an understandin...

A provocative new account of how India moved relentlessly from its hope-filled founding in 1947 to the dramatic economic and democratic breakdowns of today.When Indian leaders first took control of their government in 1947, they proclaimed the ideals of national unity and secular democracy. Through the first half century of nation-building, leaders could point to uneven but measurable progress on key goals, and after the mid-1980s, dire poverty declined for a few d...

A triumphant portrait of a fiery sisterhood changing the lives of India's women.In Uttar Pradesh—known as the "badlands" of India—a woman’s life is not entirely her own. This is one explanation for how Sheelu, a seventeen-year-old girl, ended up in jail after fleeing her service in the home of a powerful local legislator. In a region plagued by corruption, an incident like this might have gone unnoticed—except that it captured the attention of Sampat Pal, leader of India’s infamous...

Manoj MItta, 44, is a journalist who casts a critical eye on India's record on the rule of law, human rights and judicial accountability. A law graduate from Hyderabad, he is a Senior Editor with The Times of India, and has worked earlier with The Indian Express and India Today. He has written extensively on the 1984 carnage. He lives in Noida with his wife and two children. Harvinder Singh Phoolka, 52, has spearheaded the long-drawn-out campaign for justice to the victims of the 1984 carn...