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India – A Portrait
India ‘“ A Portrait by Patrick French is an intimate biography of 1.2 billion people. The economic and social revolution in India has been one of the big surprises of this century so far. India as a country has long been characterised by such adjectives as ‘timeless’, ‘spiritual’ and ‘backward’ yet, it is now viewed as ‘hi-tech’, ‘go-getting’ and ‘materialistic’. Patrick French, who has spent much of his life engaged with India, examines the real nature of this rapid change and what its roots are by talking to a large cross-section of society, from political leaders to Maoist revolutionaries and from Mafia dons to chained quarry workers. Looking at the cultural foundations that made India’s accelerated transformation from socialist economy to capitalist powerhouse possible; French creates a vivid picture of what it is like to live at a time when, on the one hand, millions have pulled themselves free of poverty, yet on the other hand, violence, corruption and caste prejudice have been equally given new outlets.