Ram Madhav

Farah Pandit’s ‘How We Win’ is undoubtedly the best book I have read on the theme of Violent Extremism (as she wishes to call it) sweeping across not only the Muslim lands but the entire world. I have many reasons for my admiration for the book and its author, her being of Indian origin – […]

A very interesting book to read. ‘The 48 Laws of Power’. Some of the suggested laws are so much intriguing that one feels that they are against the Indian ethos. But then, these laws are not for common people, they are for leaders who want power. Although written from a Western or European perspective of […]

Interesting book by a diplomat-turned-politician, Minister in GoI Hardeep Singh Puri about the idiosyncratic decisions of leaders of countries like US, UK and India and how they affected domestic and global governance. Of particular interest could be chapters on Trump, Brexit and global governance. *** Edit job of Penguin Viking was below standard though

Steve Coll’s books are a class apart. He is undisputedly the authority on Pakistan-Afghanistan-America affairs and nexus. His latest book, Directorate S, coming after an equally important book on the same subject ‘Ghost Wars’, is a testimony to his depth and diligence. It is fascinating to read about the many games that each of the […]

Read an interesting book on my kindle ‘Liberal Fascism’ by Jonah Goldberg. This Oxymoronic-sounding phrase was used by the author to actually show a mirror to the pseudo-Liberals in America. You read it; and you get a feeling as though it was about the pseudo-Liberals that you encounter on a daily basis. Liberalism as an […]

Interesting, but not extraordinary. This Rand research document discusses good and bad counterinsurgency or we may call it counterterrorism practices and derives conclusions that are educative to forces involved in CT operations. In all about 30 cases were taken for study. Having seen CT ops closely in Kashmir, AP, Chhattisgarh and North East, I can […]

Textbookish, with some useful information for the beginners. But for those familiar with the history and politics of the two countries, little new to expect.

It is a different kind of book. ‘The Misfit’s Manifesto’ is a life story of the author, weaving into it the stories of several of her friends, who, starting off as misfits or different people, transformed their lives. Failed lives to fulfilling ones. It is not a book of psychiatry. It is rather a biography. […]

Henry Kissinger is rated as the best Secretary of State for the US in the last century. He is credited with path breaking negotiations with China, in West Asia n during the Vietnam War. This book analyses Kissinger’s negotiating skills and comes out with 15 lessons to be learnt. A good book to know what […]

Yale professor Ami Chua’s provocative, informative and thought-provoking work on new politics of identity. Very insightful. Primal group identities are today driving the political upheaval in the world, she argues citing countless examples. The racist side of the contemporary US politics that she highlights is frightening as also the duplicity and double-standards of the Left […]