INDIA: A Personal Guide

by William Davenport ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A guide to India? The whole of India?"" -- This was the challenge that a correspondent for Rome's Daily American faced when he felt that such a guide was badly needed. But like all perceptive travelers in India he found that this demanded a lifetime- that the only solution was to make it a ""personal guide"" -- his own choice of places to go, things to see, subjects necessitating depth study, impressions of people, the fell of India as he experienced it. And the result is highly successful on several scores. The passionate devotee of travel will find it an admirable guide, touching in detail on not only the obvious highspots of any Indian safari but on many of the choice but often neglected areas. One could take issue with omissions, Why omit Jaipur when as close as Agra? Why not Darjeeling when as close as Calcutta? Why virtually nothing of the new India's achievements? Here are many of the great treasures of India, with excellent historical and artistic factual background. Possibly there is overemphasis on the sexual orgies depicted in the carvings, a minimizing of the amazing sense of life in India, of legend and myth and religion also conveyed in the carving. (And the person sensitive to language shades will boggle at the excessive use- even misuse- of ""plastic"".) The feel of India is here:- the answers to questions raised on the spot- unanswered by most guides; but much is left out for the individual seeking more of India's social, political, ethnological facets. Still- as a preparation or a post-travel reading delight, this fills a real need. One questions whether the casual reader of travel books would stay with it as a substitute for India itself.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1964

Categories: NONFICTION