September 25, 2012
Asian Studies
In Spite Of the Gods the Rise of Modern India Book Review
In “Spite of the Gods the Rise of Modern India” was written by author Edward Luce. Edward Luce is a British reporter who reported for the Financial Times from 2001 to 2006 for South Asian countries. He is married to an Indian woman, Priya Basu. Edward Luce went to school in London so he has a British education that is compared to the education received in India. The book “In Spite of the Gods the Rise of Modern India” is a very elaborate book that shows all the sides of Indian culture and life. The book shows in detail the economic system and status and the caste system that is used in India. He writes about India in great depth exposing corruption in the government system. He also shows that India is a rival to the United States.
Edward Luce states that India is the largest democracy and has real elections in the country. Even though India is a democracy and has real elections there is an also a lot of corruption in India. The corruption is a stress that holds India back greatly from becoming a dominant world power. The economy of India still thrives enough to be an economic rival to the United States and china. Even though India is thriving Luce writes that India’s 1.1 billion people only 35 million have formal jobs that are enough to pay taxes. Even with this burden India still has a successful economy and can compete with other large countries. Luce states “India has a highly complex economy. Its complex steel plants are helping put their Japanese and American counterparts out of business” (pg. 55).
In the book Edward Luce discusses the castes systems and explains the differences and conflicts of this system. Edward Luce discusses how the caste systems are separated by the “dharma” or duty.” But it is the Dharma of caste that perhaps gives us the best insight into how India’s traditional society saw itself” (pg. 105). In India like most other countries the upper classes are the wealthy and educated people. On difference in India than most other countries is the literacy rate all caste have a high literacy rate.
Edward Luce covers all of the aspects of life in India in great detail. He has a very neutral view on all issues in his writing and only covers the truth about India. Edward Luce did such a good job by interviewing the people of India all classes from the upper class and the more common people of India. Luce then states that India is a growing country and will become very successful if it overcomes corruption and poverty. I feel like I have such a better understanding of this complex country after reviewing his book.
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