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India

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Essential Reading

Item EXIDA105A. Buy these 5 items as a set for $91 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Malgudi Days

Malgudi Days

by R. K. Narayan

  • LITERATURE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Wonderful tales about a fictional South Indian town, populated by quirky characters whose unique approaches to tradition and modernity are the stuff of great short stories. (IDA59, $15.00)

City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

by William Dalrymple

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 350 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Dalrymple infectiously interweaves his own experiences over a year in Delhi with the art, architecture, history and literature of the city. (IDA06, $16.00)

India

India

by Stanley Wolpert

  • HISTORY
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 281 PAGES

Reflections on India -- religion and philosophy, art, culture, and politics -- by the dean of its American historians: beautifully written, and provocative as well as evocative. (IDA04, $24.95)

Eyewitness Guide India

Eyewitness Guide India

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 824 PAGES

A handsome, beautifully illustrated guide to India. It features color photographs, history and plenty of background information. (IDA265, $30.00)

India Map

India Map

by ITMB

  • 2009
  • MAP

The most detailed shaded relief map (at a scale of 1:2,100,000) of India available. (IDA18, $12.95)

 

Blue Guide India


by Sam Miller

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 800 PAGES

This informative guide in the popular series is especially strong on art, architecture and archaeology. (IDA631, $29.95)

Culture Smart! India

Culture Smart! India


by Becky Stephen

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 168 PAGES

A concise, well-illustrated guide to both social and business customs in India. (IDA298, $9.95)

Eyewitness Guide Delhi, Agra and Jaipur

Eyewitness Guide Delhi, Agra and Jaipur


by Anuradha Chaturvedi

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

With chapters on Taj Mahal, Amber Fort Palace, Keoladeo Ghana National Park, Red Fort and dozens of other highlights for the traveler, this compact, gorgeously illustrated guide to Delhi and its environs features 900 color photographs, maps and site plans. (IDA151, $25.00)

Lonely Planet India

Lonely Planet India


by Tony Wheeler

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 1229 PAGES

A comprehensive practical guide to India geared for independent travelers. (IDA44, $31.99)

Lonely Planet India Phrasebook

Lonely Planet India Phrasebook


by Omkar Koul

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 398 PAGES

A handy palm-sized guide. (IDA538, $10.99)

Love Mumbai

Love Mumbai


by Fiona Caulfield

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • BOXED
  • 160 PAGES

This beautifully made, affectionate guide, packaged in its own satchel of locally woven cloth or khadi and printed on hand-made paper, captures the soul of the city, pointing with authority to neighborhoods, shops, markets, restaurants and attractions. 3rd Edition. (IDA389, $50.00)

Curry, A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors

Curry, A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors


by Lizzie Collingham

  • FOOD
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

This cultural history with recipes is appetizingly organized as a menu (biryani, vindaloo, chai, etc.). Curry explores the origins and spread of Indian food and the interplay between Muslim, Hindu, Portuguese and British traditions on the Subcontinent. (IDA319, $16.95)

Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God

Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God


by Jonah Blank

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 370 PAGES

Blank's entertaining portrait of contemporary India and Sri Lanka mixes reporting, anecdote and myth as he travels, sometimes in the footsteps of India's great hero Rama. (IDA250, $18.00)

In Spite of the Gods, The Strange Rise of Modern India

In Spite of the Gods, The Strange Rise of Modern India


by Edward Luce

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 346 PAGES

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. Luce tackles the challenges and reality of the world's largest democracy with insight and balance in this portrait of a nation in transition. (IDA349, $16.00)

India Calling, An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking

India Calling, An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking


by Anand Giridharadas

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 273 PAGES

An astute portrait of India today by an international journalist. Moving through the cities and countryside, Giridharadas encounters families, workers and entrepreneurs and provides insight into a country in the midst of reinventing itself. (IDA623, $25.00)

India Unveiled

India Unveiled


by Robert Arnett

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2007
  • HARD COVER
  • 215 PAGES

A celebration of the people, landscapes and traditional culture of India, organized regionally and featuring 268 beautiful color photographs. It's a revealing, insightful portrait of the country combining history, geography and travelogue. (IDA107, $55.00)

India, A Million Mutinies Now

India, A Million Mutinies Now


by V.S. Naipaul

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 520 PAGES

In this engaging classic Naipaul interviews people from various castes all across India, provocatively concluding that this collection of competing interests adds to India's strength. (IDA14, $16.95)

India, A Sacred Geography

India, A Sacred Geography


by Diana L. Eck

  • RELIGION
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 336 PAGES
  • COMING IN MARCH

Coming in March 2012! Professor of comparative religion and Indian studies at Harvard, Diana Eck turns her interest in temples and places of pilgrimage into a celebration of the diversity of popular religious traditions in India. (IDA634, $27.00)

May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons, A Journey Among the Women of India

May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons, A Journey Among the Women of India


by Elisabeth Bumiller

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 220 PAGES

A wonderfully written and fascinating portrayal of Indian women from Bollywood stars to Indira Gandhi to prostitutes. It's an insightful portrait of the country as seen through the eyes of its women. (IDA37, $14.95)

Mughal India, Splendours of the Peacock Throne

Mughal India, Splendours of the Peacock Throne


by Valerie Berinstain | Paul Bahn

  • HISTORY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 159 PAGES

This illustrated pocket guide presents the history, culture and splendor of the Mughal court and its celebrated architecture in hundreds of archival photographs and drawings. (IDA50, $15.95)

The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity

The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity


by Amartya Sen

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 432 PAGES

Lamont University Professor at Harvard and a Nobel prizewinner for economics, Sen celebrates India's diversity of religious beliefs, customs and democratic traditions in these provocative, erudite essays. (IDA346, $17.00)

The Beautiful and the Damned, A Portrait of the New India


by Siddhartha Deb

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 272 PAGES

Six years after leaving his home in northeastern India for a fellowship at Columbia, Deb returned home to work as an undercover reporter for The Guardian. The novelist's first nonfiction book mixes personal narrative with incisive portraits of a wide range of contemporary Indian personalities. (IDA639, $26.00)

Handmade in India

Handmade in India


by M.P. Ranjan | Aditi Ranjan

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 580 PAGES

Featuring 3500 color photos and organized by region, this sumptuous album covers the diverse crafts of India with style and authority. (IDA579, $65.00)

Hindu Art and Architecture

Hindu Art and Architecture


by George Michell

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

An excellent survey of Hindu art and architecture, explaining the meaning and construction of principal images and buildings, as well as the development of Hinduism and the corpus of myths that have influenced its artistic tradition. (IDA147, $18.95)

Indian Art, A Concise History

Indian Art, A Concise History


by Roy C. Craven

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This convenient volume in the acclaimed "World of Art" series is a crisp, illustrated overview of the range of Indian art over the centuries. (IDA16, $21.95)

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal


by Giles Tillotson | Mary Beard

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2008
  • HARD COVER
  • 190 PAGES

An enlightening pocket guide to the myth, meaning and legends of the celebrated tomb, "the queen of architecture." (IDA528, $19.95)

An Autobiography, Or the Story of My Experiments with Truth

An Autobiography, Or the Story of My Experiments with Truth


by Mohandas K. Gandhi

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 480 PAGES

There is no substitute for reading Gandhi in his own simple, direct prose. A highly recommended glimpse into the personality and life of this remarkable figure. (IDA163, $10.95)

Gandhi the Man, How One Man Changed Himself to Change the World


by Eknath Easwaran

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 213 PAGES

Easwaran, who grew up in Gandhi's India, focuses on the nonviolent hero's inner transformation in this insightful short biography. (IDA630, $16.95)

Nine Lives, In Search of the Sacred in Modern India

Nine Lives, In Search of the Sacred in Modern India


by William Dalrymple

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

From Sufi dervish and Buddhist monk to outcast and temple worshiper: nine people, nine lives, all captured by Dalrymple (City of Djinns) as he journeys throughout India in search of remarkable individuals transformed by religion. At turns bemusing, dazzling and heart-wrenching, this is his first travel book in 15 years. (IDA587, $16.00)

A Lovesong for India

A Lovesong for India


by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

  • LITERATURE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 276 PAGES

A collection of short stories set in India, England and New York City that meditate on what unites people across oceans, cultures, and lifetimes. (IDA652, $26.00)

Gods, Demons and Others

Gods, Demons and Others


by R. K. Narayan | R.K. Laxman

  • LITERATURE
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 241 PAGES

Hindu stories freely adapted by Narayan, one of India's foremost writers. They include tales both highly readable and revealing of Indian Hindu traditions, some drawn from the Ramayana and the Mahabarata. (IDA101, $23.00)

India, A Traveler's Literary Companion

India, A Traveler's Literary Companion


by Chandrahas Choudhury

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

Each of these 14 stories evokes place and landscape, providing an excellent introduction both to contemporary writers and to India's diverse cultures and history. (IDA598, $14.95)

Midnight's Children

Midnight's Children


by Salman Rushdie

  • LITERATURE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 533 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Crowned Best of the Booker in 2008, Rushdie's greatest novel is a madcap, comic take on the birth of modern India in all its splendid and unexpected manifestations. (IDA12, $16.00)

Mirrorwork, 50 Years of Indian Writing 1947-1997

Mirrorwork, 50 Years of Indian Writing 1947-1997


by Salman Rushdie | Elizabeth West

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 554 PAGES

A selection of 20th-century Indian prose, both fiction and non-fiction, compiled by Salman Rushdie and featuring work by Jawaharlal Nehru, R.K. Narayan, Satyajit Ray, Amit Chaudhuri and Vikram Seth. Published in celebration of India's 50 years of independence. (IDA293, $19.99)

Passages, 24 Modern Indian Stories

Passages, 24 Modern Indian Stories


by Eileen Panetta | Barbara H. Solomon

  • LITERATURE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

An anthology of short stories and novel excerpts from a roster of terrific Indian writers, including Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. (IDA625, $7.95)

River of Smoke

River of Smoke


by Amitav Ghosh

  • LITERATURE
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 528 PAGES

A clipper ship carrying opium from India to Canton, a nursery ship on the trail of rare Chinese plants, and the good ship Ibis, full of indentured servants, converge in Canton's Fanqui-Town, or Foreign Enclave in this second book in Ghosh's epic trilogy. (IDA638, $28.00)

Sea of Poppies

Sea of Poppies


by Amitav Ghosh

  • LITERATURE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 528 PAGES

Amativ Ghosh conjures the tumult of the 19th-century Opium Wars and colonial India in this expansive tale, featuring a motley cast of British, Chinese and Indian characters. (IDA529, $16.00)

Season of the Monsoon


by Paul Mann

  • MYSTERY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 408 PAGES

Inspector George Sansi, police detective in Bombay, investigates murder in Bollywood in the thrilling, chilling series debut, originally published in 1993. (IDA384, $14.95)

Swimming Lessons

Swimming Lessons


by Rohinton Mistry

  • LITERATURE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

In these witty, poignant stories, Mistry charts the intersecting lives of Firozsha Baag, an apartment building in Bombay, yielding a delightful collective portrait of a middle-class Indian community poised between old ways and new. (IDA626, $15.00)

The Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna's Counsel in Time of War


by Barbara Stoler Miller

  • LITERATURE
  • 1986
  • PAPER
  • 162 PAGES

A leading translator of Sanskrit literature, Dr. Miller edited and translated numerous works of Indian poetry and drama, including this popular translation of the Bhagavad-Gita in verse form. (IDA348, $6.95)

The God of Small Things

The God of Small Things


by Arundhati Roy

  • LITERATURE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

This luminous, Booker-prize winning novel is part mystery, part family saga -- a tale of lost innocence set in Kerala during the tumult of the 1960s. (IDA31, $16.00)

The White Tiger, A Novel

The White Tiger, A Novel


by Aravind Adiga

  • LITERATURE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

Mordant, funny, angry, horrifying, this Booker Prize-winning tale of a village pauper turned success (and murderer) skewers the ambition, inequity and corruption of 21st-century India. (IDA542, $15.00)

Travelers' Tales India

Travelers' Tales India


by James O'Reilly | Larry Habegger

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 496 PAGES

A collection of 45 descriptive and thought-provoking short excerpts on Indian life and culture, including contributions from Rushdie, Naipaul and Dalrymple, plus some valuable excerpts from books long out of print. (IDA05, $19.95)

Birds of India

Birds of India


by Richard Grimmett | Carol Inskipp | Tim Inskipp

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

Thoroughly revised, with 73 new plates and many others updated or repainted, the second edition of the masterful Birds of India now features all maps and text opposite the plates for quicker and easier reference. (FG43, $39.50)

Mammals of India

Mammals of India


by Vivek Menon

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 200 PAGES

A Princeton Field Guide edition of Menon's authoritative survey of 400 mammalian species from tropical lowlands to the Himalayas. With large, clear photographs, range maps and introductory chapters on the groups of mammals, conservation and protected areas. (IDA546, $35.00)

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