Patriots and Partisans (PB) [Paperback] Ramachandra Guha

Born and raised in Dehradun, Ramachandra Guha studied at the
Delhi School of Economics and at the Indian Institute of Management,
Kolkata, where he wrote a doctoral dissertation on the Chipko
movement. He has pioneered three distinct fields of historical inquiry:
environmental history (as in The Unquiet Woods, 1989), the social
history of sport (A Corner of a Foreign Field, 2002), and contemporary
history (India After Gandhi, 2007). He is also the author of Savaging
the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals, and India (1999), which is
soon to appear in a new edition from Penguin.
He is now working on a major biography of Mahatma Gandhi, the first
volume of which will be published by Penguin towards the end of 2013.
Guha's awards include the Leopold-Hidy Prize of the American Society
for Environmental History, the UK Cricket Society Prize, the Malcolm
Adiseshiah Prize for excellence in social science research, the Sahitya
Akademi Award, and the Padma Bhushan. His books and essays have
been translated into more than twenty languages.

‰Û÷I am a person of moderate views,‰۪ writes Ramachandra Guha, ‰Û÷these sometimes expressed in extreme fashion.‰۪ In this wide-ranging and wonderfully readable collection of essays, Guha defends the liberal centre against the dogmas of left and right, and does so with style, depth, and polemical verve. The book begins with a brilliant overview of the major threats to the Indian Republic. Other essays turn a critical eye on Hindutva, the Communist left, and the dynasty-obsessed Congress party. The essays in Part II of this book focus on writers and scholars, and include some sparkling portraits. Whether writing about politics or culture, whether profiling individuals or analysing social trends, Ramachandra Guha displays a masterly touch, confirming his standing as India‰۪s most admired historian and public intellectual.