- ISBN13: 9780312426415
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- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
In Temptations of the West, Pankaj Mishra brings literary authority and political insight to bear on journeys through South Asia, and considers the pressures of Western-style modernity and prosperity on the region. Beginning in India, his examination takes him from the realities of Bollywood stardom, to the history of Jawaharlal Nehru's post-independence politics. In Kashmir, he reports on the brutal massacre of thirty-five Sikhs, and its intriguing local aftermath. And in Tibet, he exquisitely parses the situation whereby the atheist Chinese government has discovered that Tibetan Buddhism can be "packaged and sold to tourists." Temptations of the West is essential reading about a conflicted and rapidly changing region of the world.
Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond
Tags: book review editors, Modern, Tibet, West, South Asia
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
The problem with journalistic sketches such as these is that they are forever becoming obsolete. Since many of these essays take the reader only to 2004, one is left wondering, for instance, what is happening today in Bollywood, with India’s BJP party, in Kashmir, in Musharref’s Pakistan, and in Nepal and Tibet. Events in these parts of the world are moving faster than Mishra can write about them. But the great value added here is Mishra’s untangling of the tortured web of historical events and personalities from which India, Kashmir, and Pakistan stumbled their painful way into their current predicaments. Often one is left trembling with despair. For instance, Mishra gives us a detailed retelling of the decades of ubiquitous injustices and murders rampant in Kashmir. And the deeply solidified hatreds and passions that have emerged from the power-hungry ambitions of men throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, from the British on, leave one feeling hopeless for any reasonable resolution to the India/Pakistan Muslim/Western miasma engulfing us today. Indeed, one wonders at the subtitle of this book, “How To Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond.” It seems to be something of an ironic joke, since Mishra is never at a loss to point out the hypocrisy of corrupt Indian “modern” politicians who live in a self-imposed bubble and ignore the suffering of millions. He also gives us an insider’s look at Bollywood’s lightweight “modern” movie stars and movie makers whose financial backing comes from criminals. And in general he sees the cup here as definitely more than half empty. Perhaps that viewpoint is from his many interviews at the ground level, with the suffering masses, the pathetic, powerless victims, and the poverty-stricken illiterate.
I recommend this book for those naive Westerners, like Thomas J. Friedman, who think “shining India” is the focal point of the modern world. Not quite.
Rating: 4 / 5
If you don’t care about the title, then this is a very readable book and, Mishra is a good writer. It informs you about the people and places that Mishra visits; albeit in a somewhat cynical way. The problem arises when you start dissecting the book. You wonder if Mishra really has any expertise to write about places like Nepal, Tibet, Afghanisthan, Pakistan etc. It seems that his expertise is really in the underdeveloped Hindi belt, and surroundings of North India, an area which is quite removed from the modern world. Then what is this title all about? To find real stories about the temptations of the West, shouldn’t one be digging in South India?
Coming back to the book, Mishra raises some soul searching issues about the failure of Democracy on one hand, and the tendency of the emerging Hindu middle classes to mutedly tolerate violence against minorities. Both of these issues are heavy topics that need to be covered thoroughly, with the one-on-one perspective that Mishra has.
Rating: 3 / 5
Pankaj Mishra writes like he is having a long and detailed conversation with you. After spending a few weeks reading this book, I feel that he is a close member of my social circle. He is a true journalist – he does not preach, he allows you to draw your own conclusions. His facts will knock your socks off. This is stuff we never hear in our world of Fox News.
Rating: 4 / 5
I loved The End of Suffering, Mishra’s previous book, which looked at the progress of the historical Buddha in northern India 2500 years ago. Mishra effectively intertwined autobiographical details with that story, and he does the same, to powerful effect, in this closely observed look at nationalism, extremism and modernity in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Afghanistan. Mishra conveys what it feels like to be a citizen of the countries he visits, whether it’s the aspiration and anxiety of movie industry hangers-on in Bombay or the bleak outlook of a family in the crossfire of Afghanistan.
This book is at the standard of the best non-fiction by VS Naipaul, though I find Mishra’s take on Hindu nationalism to be more accurate than the Nobel laureate’s.
Rating: 5 / 5
This travelogue/reportage is extremely well written with very deep analysis of the social forces that rule these places of geopolitical importance. Mishra has invoked the history in brief for each place to explain why the society there is turning the events in some particular way. He also explains how the hegemonic powers are causing tension in the lives of the people living there. However the title is a total misnomer, and does not convey the true value of this book. This book does not give a list of “what to do’s” if you travel those places. It reports what the author saw happening in those places, tried to get interviews of some key players and explains the socio-historic background of the regions.
Rating: 5 / 5
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