rajeev@sftri.UUCP (S.Rajeev) (04/21/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** Here's a somewhat negative from the Times Book Review of Tariq Ali's "An Indian Dynasty: The Story of the Nehru-Gandhi Family" (Putnam $17.95): "This is a straightforward account of recent Indian history, told in terms of teh country's greatest family. But it is difficult to know for whom it is intended. For someone who knows India, much of the material will be familiar -- the conversion of Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal rich and aristo- cratic father, to the cause of independece, and tiresome old anecdotes of Indira Gandhi's childhood. For the newcome to this land, there is not enough of the life -- no crackle, no fire and few people, except for politicians. India's richness is largely ignored, and the country is treated as just another arena for political intrigues. And for a reader hungry fo details about the new, 40-year-old Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and for insights into this latest generation of the Nehru family, there is only a 14-page chapter tacked onto the end. The book is not as radical as one might expect from the background of Tariq Ali, the frist Pakistani president of the Oxford Union and a fiery young political activist in the 1960's. "An Indian Dynasty" has no obvious biases or misinterpretations and includes quotatiosn from extensive interviews. But the writing is often flat and banal, even when Mr. Ali tries to move from the political to the human plane. Students of lust in high places will be fratified that Mr. Ali reporst, as long rumored, that Nehru and Lord Mountbatten's wife, Edwina, "had fallen in love with each other" during the independence negotiatiosn in 1947. But he stops short of saying what they did about it. -- William Borders -- ...ihnp4!attunix!rajeev -- usenet ihnp4!attunix!rajeev@BERKELEY -- arpanet Sri Rajeev, SF 1-342, Bell Labs, Summit, NJ 07901. (201)-522-6330.