In his new book, In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India, Edward Luce describes modern India in the manner one might write about one's in-laws: They are family and thus intimately familiar, but the ties are not blood ties, the observations are made from a slightly greater distance, and there is always the possibility of divorce if things don't work out.
That this comparison seems figuratively apt is buttressed by the fact that it is literally true: Luce has married into an Indian family. It flits now and then on the periphery of the narrative, and in the concluding section, he uses his wedding in New Delhi as a metaphor for how things in India can go wrong and how they can go right. In his preface, he cites his wife as, "in many ways, a cause of this book."
Luce has had ample opportunity to consider India from a professional vantage point as well. From 2001 to 2006, based in New Delhi, he served as South Asia bureau chief for the Financial Times; he currently serves as that paper's Washington bureau chief. During the latter years of the Clinton administration, he was a speech writer for Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.
See full Article.
Posts
