India Becoming by Akash Kapur

A Journey Through a Changing Landscape

280 pages, Hardcover

224 x 145 x 27mm (L x W x T)

Condition: Very Good (Has very small/minor signs of wear). There no markings, inscriptions or signatures of any kind, pages are clean and vibrant.

Genres: India / Nonfiction / Travel / History / Politics / Memoir / Sociology

Recognized by The New Republic, The New Yorker, and Newsweek as a crucial work on contemporary India, Akash Kapur's India: A Portrait offers a nuanced exploration of the nation's rapid transformation. Kapur, who grew up in India and later studied in the U.S., returned in 2003 to find a country undergoing profound change. Seeking to understand his own place within this evolving landscape, Kapur encounters a diverse range of individuals whose lives reflect the complexities of modern India. He speaks with an aging landowner witnessing the destruction of his village due to real estate development, a stark example of progress's cost. He also meets young women navigating newfound freedoms and a gay man grappling with his identity in a society undergoing shifts in social acceptance. As Kapur and his wife attempt to reconcile the allure of progress with the values and traditions of rural India, they discover a nation awakening to its potential, yet potentially losing sight of the very qualities that once defined it. India: A Portrait is a vital examination of a country at a critical crossroads.