A thoughtful celebration of Hinduism as a potentially unifying force.
An Indian diplomat examines his deeply held spiritual beliefs.
Tharoor (Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India, 2018, etc.), former Under-Secretary-General at the U.N., eloquently explains the religion that has offered him wisdom and spiritual consolation throughout his life. Clearly presenting Hinduism’s roots, central tenets, and major texts and thinkers, he portrays the religion as a polycentric faith, open to all seekers of spiritual enlightenment. He is dismayed, however, by what he sees as the corruption of Hinduism into “the intolerant and often violent forms of Hindutva,” a political movement that aims at “creating social and cultural distinctions for a political purpose.” Hindutva sees Hinduism “as a badge of identity, rather than as a set of values, principles and beliefs.” An insidious form of identity politics, according to Tharoor, Hindutva foments prejudice against India’s Muslims and Christians and insists on Hinduism “as a badge of allegiance rather than a way of relating to the cosmos.” For the author, it is precisely Hinduism’s capacious validation of other faiths and its rejection of one “single structure of theological authority or liturgical power” that makes the religion so attractive. Tharoor confronts directly the social and cultural practices that have been associated with Hinduism: the discriminatory caste system, which he admits is unfortunately widespread in India; superstitious beliefs in astrology, signs, and soothsayers; and the “God Market” that has drawn the gullible to “charlatans, poseurs and tricksters” who offer “simplistic ideas of spirituality and amass huge fortunes.” The author believes that although caste was entrenched by British colonial rule, even after India’s independence it has become an indisputable fact of life, practiced by more than a third of the population. While he was raised to be oblivious to caste, he recognizes that he has benefited socially, economically, and politically by having been born into an upper stratum. “Caste blindness,” he admits, “is itself an affectation available only to the privileged.”
A thoughtful celebration of Hinduism as a potentially unifying force.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-947534-56-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scribe
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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