India After Gandhi: The History Of The World's Largest Democracy

Book Summary of India After Gandhi: The History Of The World's Largest Democracy

India is a story of hope and despair, darkness and light, chaos and glory. Ramachandra Guha tells the story of modern India, its creation and its progress with a well researched elegance. The story of India has always been a captivating one, but Guha gives it fresh insight by the sheer volume of details he provides, not just on India's longest serving prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, but also about the lesser known and marginalized people of India – the peasants, workers and tribals.

The compelling book focuses on the conflicts as well as the triumphs that India has seen since its inception. The bloodshed of the Partition, the humiliating defeat against the Chinese, the miracle of the Indian elections, the dark days of Emergency, the triumph of the Bangladesh liberation are all chronicled in detail in this book.

General Reception of the Book


The book was an instant critical success once it was published, and it was hailed as 'Book of the Year' by Outlook, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist. It even won the Sahitya Akademi award for English in the year 2011.

About the Author
Ramachandra Guha can best be described as a multi-faceted personality. His interests include cricket, history, environment and politics. He also writes columns for well known Indian newspapers.

The author is an alumnus of the Doon School, St Stephens College in Delhi and IIM Kolkatta. He has taught at several universities including Stanford, Oslo, Yale and the Indian Institute of Science.

Other Popular Books by Ramachandra Guha


The author is well known for writing other popular books, some of which include The Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India, Wickets in the East, Spin and other Turns, The Picador Book of Cricket, The Last Liberal and other essays

Awards and Recognition


Ramachandra Guha has also been bestowed with many awards through the course of his career, like the Leopold-Hidy Prize by the American Society for Environmental History in 2001, R K Narayan Prize in 2003, Padma Bushan in 2009 and Sahitya Akademi Award in 2011.

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The Fountainhead

Book Summary of The Fountainhead

'The Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand represents the struggle of the human spirit to triumph in its fight against collectivism. Regarded as her breakthrough novel, the book that soon came to be regarded as a masterpiece was rejected by 12 publishers, before finally seeing the light of the day. Read the book to find out what made it such a huge success and why it has remained a top-of-the-mind literary effort even after all these years.

When Ayn Rand started to write The Fountainhead, she wanted to steer clear of making any overt political statement. But as she began to spell out the story of the proudly individualistic Howard Roark, an architect who struggles to survive in a world ruled by traditions, she realized that there was no escaping the political or philosophical undertones. In spite of that, The Fountainhead still continues to be seen as a novel that describes one man's fight against the system.

The characters in the novel are memorable. The protagonist is Howard Roark, an architect who believes that only an individual's vision can produce genuine art. He decries committees and councils as he feels that their interference could result in mediocrity being passed off as art. The upright Roark is often quoted as the embodiment of the ideal man. Another main character in the novel is Peter Keating, Roark's rival who is motivated more by material considerations rather than creative ones. Ayn Rand's heroine Dominique Francon is a strong woman who. during the course of the book, learns to live life on her own terms. She gives in to her passion and emerges stronger and more creative because of it.

The novel goes on to answer the final question - will Roark survive his war against the system, or will he be forced to come to terms with it?

The Fountainhead got off to a moderate start. Reviews were mixed and initial sales were depressing. But the book picked up on the strength of word-of-mouth reviews and it has sold over 6 million copies and been translated into several languages. Two years after it was published, it entered the New York Times bestseller list.

In 1945, Ayn Rand worked on a condensed and illustrated version of the novel. It was syndicated in several newspapers. A film based on the book, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal was produced by Warner Brothers in 1949.

About The Author
A Russian-American, Ayn Rand was a philosopher, author and screenwriter. Her other books include Atlas Shrugged ? often referred to as her best work. She's also known for her book We the Living, and for her other works For The New Intellectual, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, The Romantic Manifesto and Philosophy: Who Needs It.

Ayn Rand's philosophy was based on rationalism and she rejected all forms of religion. An intensely political person, she rejected the concept of collectivism too. Her distinct philosophy, which often came through in her work, was termed as Objectivism.

After an unsuccessful stint at Petrograd State University in Russia, she started writing and later visited the United States to meet her relatives. Her appreciation of the American lifestyle led her to settle in New York and pursue a career as a screenwriter. While working as a screenplay writer in Hollywood, Ayn Rand also produced a Broadway play. A cancer survivor, Ayn Rand died of a cardiac failure on March 6, 1982.

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Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia

Book Summary of Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia

Dongri to Dubai is the first ever attempt to chronicle the history of the Mumbai mafia. It is the story of notorious gangsters like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Chhota Rajan, Abu Salem, but above all, it is the story of a young man who went astray despite having a father in the police force. Dawood Ibrahim was initiated into crime as a pawn in the hands of the Mumbai police and went on to wipe out the competition and eventually became the Mumbai police’s own nemesis.

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The Secret

Book Summary of The Secret

A self-help book, 'The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne was a successful albeit controversial book. Published in 2006, the book propagates the presence of a natural law that governs everything in the universe, including your ability to be happy and successful. So if there is a natural law that decides your destiny, how do you take control of your life? Read the book to know more about your power to steer your life in the right direction.

Summary of the Book

Rhonda Byrne was inspired to write The Secret after reading The Science of Getting Rich. The latter was written by Wallace Wattles. Rhonda Byrne read it during a difficult time in her life. Deeply influenced, she conducted an in-depth study of what modern thinkers had to say about how the universe is governed. In her book, she concludes that there is a natural Law of Attraction. The book claims that everybody and everything in the universe has a certain frequency. The law of attraction ensures that an individual automatically attracts events, situations and other people who come within the same frequency range.

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Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

Book Summary of Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

'Stay Hungry Stay Foolish' is a collection of the inspiring stories of 25 IIM Ahmedabad graduates who dared to venture on the path of entrepreneurship. The book provides people with a lot of practical knowledge. A must read!

Summary of the Book

'Stay Hungry Stay Foolish' were the last words spoken by Steve Jobs during his commencement speech at Stanford in the year 2005. Rashmi Bansal uses this title to send across an apt message that at times in our lives, there come moments when we need to do something unexpected and crazy in a bid to realize our dreams.

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish is the collection of 25 stories of IIM Ahmedabad graduates who chose to opt out of the corporate race and take the entrepreneurial path. This book starts off with the interesting story of Sanjeev Bhikchandani, who belonged to the batch of 1989 who founded Naukri.com. The book also has stories of R. Subramanian, who owns the Subhiksha group, Sunil Handa who is the founder of Ekalavya Educational Foundation and many more. The book has a lot of educative and practical wisdom, which is an inspiring read for aspiring entrepreneurs and also those who want to achieve something in life.

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Life Is What You Make It

Book Summary of Life Is What You Make It

'Life is What You Make It' is the story of Ankita Sharma, an ambitious and full of life youngster who has everything that anyone of her age would dream of. But, when life does a U-Turn on her, how does she cope up with it? Read this inspiring tale of the daunting human spirit.

Summary of the Book

How would you react if destiny shook the entire world around you and set you on a new path? What if it would put you in a place, which would change your entire course of life? The question is, would you run, fight or would you gladly accept life?

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Messi: The Inside Story of the Boy Who Became a Legend

Messi: The Inside Story of the Boy Who Became a Legend

Book Summary of Messi: The Inside Story of the Boy Who Became a Legend

Still only 24, Lionel Messi is on course to become the greatest soccer player of all time. The 2009 and 2010 FIFA Player of the Year, he is fast, elusive, and mesmerizing. Nominated by Maradona as successor to his No. 10 Argentina shirt, he is already set for football divinity.


Luca Caioli draws on numerous exclusive testimonies to tell Messi's story: his parents and extended family; his coaches at Grandoli and Newell's Old Boys; Rjikaard and Zambrotta from Barcelona; Jorge Valdano and many others from Argentina, Manchester City's Pablo Zabaleta and ex-Chelsea defender Asier del Horno. In the final chapter Messi himself sizes up his life so far.

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