10 books by Shashi Tharoor and why you should read them

A politician, writer, and a former international diplomat, Shashi Tharoor is a well-known in the field of literature. A very popular name in India, he is known as a writer with amazing hits to his credit. An acclaimed writer, Tharoor started writing at the age of six and till date, he has written eighteen books based and centered on India and its history, culture, politics, and society. He has also written hundreds of columns in many famous publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post. In 2019, Dr. Shashi Tharoor got the Sahitya Academy Award for his book 'An Era of Darkness' in a non-fiction category in English language.

His books provide an insight into the Indian culture, its position in the modern society and how it evolved into one of the largest democracies in the world. Here is a list of 10 books by Shashi Tharoor, which brought a revolution in the Indian writing scene:

Photo: ShashiTharoor/Facebook

It is a fictional work that takes the story of the Mahabharata, the Indian epic, and recasts and resets it in the context of the Indian Independence Movement and the first three decades post-independence. Figures from Indian history are transformed into characters from mythology, and the mythical story of India is retold as a history of Indian independence and subsequent history, up through the 1970s.

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The book parodies and satirizes formulaic Bollywood cinema, using it as a metaphor in an attempt to raise and answer questions about contemporary India and Indians. It is a fictional work that tells the story of Ashok Banjara, a Bollywood superstar. The character and many incidents of Ashok Banjara's life are inspired by that of Amitabh Bachchan, the biggest superstar in Bollywood's history.

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In ‘Riot’, Tharoor experiments brilliantly with narrative form, chronicling the mystery of Priscilla Hart’s death through the often contradictory accounts of a dozen or more characters. Intellectually provocative and emotionally charged, it is a novel about the ownership of history, about love, hate, cultural commission, religious fanaticism and the impossibility of knowing the truth.

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It discusses a wide range of topics like caste, democracy in India, Indira Gandhi, the partition of India, and its transition from a socialist economy to a free market economy. Shashi Tharoor argues compellingly that India stands at the intersection of the most significant questions facing the world at the end of the twentieth century. The answers to such questions will determine what kind of world the next century will bring, and since Indians will soon account for a sixth of the world's population, their choices will have repercussions throughout the globe.

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It consists of a collection of previously published articles, book reviews and columns on writers, books and literary musings. In the title story, "Bookless in Baghdad", Tharoor writes about his experience when he visits Baghdad on a UN initiative soon after the Gulf War.

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In this book, Tharoor attempts to answer important questions to demystify the complex issues that have been thrown up by the ongoing transformation of the nation. After chronicling India's transformation over the years in several previous books, he brings his insights into Indian society, economics and politics up to date in wide-ranging short essays that extend the narrative right up to the present time.

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In this explosive book, Tharoor reveals with acuity, impeccable research, and trademark wit, just how disastrous British rule was for India. Besides examining the many ways in which the colonizers exploited India, ranging from the drain of national resources to Britain, the destruction of the Indian textile, steel-making and shipping industries, and the negative transformation of agriculture, he demolishes the arguments of Western and Indian apologists for Empire on the supposed benefits of British rule, including democracy and political freedom, the rule of law, and the railways.

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In the book, Tharoor writes about the history of Hinduism and its core tenets, as well as socio-cultural developments in India that relate to the religion, while elucidating his own religious convictions. It is a repudiation of Hindu nationalism, and its rise in Indian society, which relied upon an interpretation of the religion which was markedly different from the one with which he had grown up, and was familiar with.

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In the book, Tharoor examines and questions the tenure of the Modi government. He states that his criticisms are based on "facts and figures", along with examples. Tharoor claims that he questions "the foreign policy, relationships in the neighborhood, the priorities, the episodic nature of much of our foreign policy conduct, the inconsistent yo-yoing of [the] relationship with Pakistan, etc., etc." of Modi's tenure.

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Derived from ‘Why I Am a Hindu’ this book is an examination of the fundamentals and complexities of Hinduism. Starting with an examination of his own belief in Hinduism, Tharoor ranges far and wide in his study of the faith. He talks about the Great Souls of Hinduism, Adi Shankara, Patanjali, Ramanuja, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and many others who made major contributions to the essence of Hinduism.

Pic credit: Aleph Book Company