In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India | 
| Author: Edward Luce
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 3736
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 1400079772
Dewey Decimal Number: 954.053
EAN: 9781400079773
ASIN: 1400079772
Publication Date: March 11, 2008
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Product Description
As the world's largest democracy and a rising international economic power, India has long been heralded for its great strides in technology and trade. Yet it is also plagued by poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and a vast array of other social and economic issues.
Here, noted journalist and former Financial Times South Asia bureau chief Edward Luce travels throughout India's many regions, cultures, and religious circles, investigating its fragile balance between tradition and modernity. From meetings with key political figures to fascinating encounters with religious pundits, economic gurus, and village laborers, In Spite of the Gods is a fascinating blend of analysis and reportage that comprehensively depicts the nuances of India's complex situation and its place in the world.
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 Great primer on what makes India tick June 19, 2008
This is a terrific, highly readable book on the many facets of political, cultural and economic systems in India and how they effect the well being of its people and India's international relations. I knew very little about India and this book was the perfect way to start learning. I highly recommend it. It is extremely interesting and a needed primer considering the growth of India's economy and potential world influence. The comparisions with China are particularly good.
Great perspective - very honest view of India. May 27, 2008
Luce is very candid and honest about the good & bad of India. Good book to read for an "outsiders" (non-Indian) viewpoint.
Great book, good research effort May 7, 2008
This is a good book to read on India's progress in the last 60 years. Ed Luce has conducted a considerable amount of research and interviews.
In the political section Ed does tend to be favorable to Sonia Gandhi, is sympathetic to Muslims in India and is critical of the BJP. Sonia seems to have been critical of the communal violence in Gujarat and that such a thing could not have happened if the Congress was in power. Ed fails to point out that the Punjab riots in the early 80s were created by the Congress.
Personally I would read this book and draw my own conclusions.
Good read, but a curious retitling from the hardback edition May 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The subtitle of the hardback edition of Edward Luce's work was "The Strange Rise of Modern India." In the paperback, the 'Strange' modifier has been omitted, and I think it was a curious decision by the marketers of this fine effort. Luce takes pains in the introduction to explain the title, dropping terms like "strengths not necessarily located in its religious traditions, " "confounding expectations," the "unusual character of its rise," and the observation that India is succeeding in "expanding rapidly without having undergone a broad-based industrial revolution." But with the 'Strange' modifier left out of the title, there's really nothing for Luce to explain. The original title perfectly captured the spirit and tone of Luce's work. The re-done title is a cop-out or perhaps a bow to some aggrieved constituency.
Indeed, the entire book is dedicated to spotlighting the contradictory and "against the odds" (or, "in spite of the gods") nature of India's rise over the past decades. Luce doesn't introduce the term until the book's conclusion, but he notes there that John Kenneth Galbraith referred to India as "functioning anarchy." Luce places it somewhere between there and a very complex democracy, one with serious, pause-inducing structural shortcomings in, among other things, its labor markets, civil service and political party infrastructure.
Those looking for deep insights into off-shoring, IT, IIT, Bollywood (an included picture of Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai is, unfortunately, gratuitous - she's nowhere to be found on these pages), the rise of mega-companies like Mittal and Reliance and various other economic successes should look elsewhere. Luce's beat is mostly political, and he spends the great majority of the time dissecting the various parties and their machinations.
Still, all in all, this is a very good read from this first-rate journalist from the FT. I learned quite a lot.
A 5-star read about the global economy April 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While most have remained captivated by China's race to be recognized as the next world power, Edward Luce suggests shifting focus to another eastern country: India. In Spite of the Gods substantiates this suggestion.
Qualified to offer this survey after reporting from New Delhi for the Financial Times, Luce draws from both his professional and personal experiences in India to analyze its glaring contradictions, the most striking being India's rise to the world stage as a powerful economic and political force, while the population of India remains deeply religious, spiritual, and often impoverished.
To account for India's current position on the world stage, and likely candidacy for the next world power, Luce stunningly explains for the layperson the history and nature of India's economy. The Indian economy is fueled not by industry but by service. These service sectors combined in recent decades with a growing information technology sector, which immediately placed India within the ranks of the world powers.
Luce does not limit himself to economic analyses, nor to the middle and upper classes. Weaving together history, facts, anecdotes, and interviews from the entire subcontinent, Luce provides such shocking details such as that in Bihar, in northern India, roughly 80 percent of government-subsidized food is stolen. How? Most ration cards must be obtained through bribery, and Indians capable of bribing, are not poor.
Luce's seamless shifting between economics, politics, religion, tradition, and the world stage is useful. By providing various ways through which to interpret modern India, Luce not only allows his reader a breezy catch-up on exactly how India got from there to here, but also demonstrates to his reader how to pull from multiple perspectives when considering India.
Luce's modern history of India avoids romanticizing the country, a trap into which many historians of India have fallen. And his book loses no excitement in this wise aversion; instead, the picture Luce weaves of India is so hopeful that one is inclined to agree not only with his assertion that India is a viable candidate for the next world power, but furthermore that India's rise to world power will add to, rather than threaten, global stability.
Armchair Interviews says: Important message for all interested in our ever-changing global economy.
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