New Books on Kashmir, the Mughals, & India
Posted on 08. Apr, 2010 by David in Blog, Books, Culture, Kashmir
I was in Delhi the last few days with the great group of photographers making up our Lumen Dei Kumbh Mela photo tour. Yesterday while they were out shooting photos I dropped by one of my favorite bookstores in Delhi, Full Circle.
Every time I’m there I notice something interesting and worth picking up. This time I found a book on Kashmir I’ve been wanting to get for a while now – “Travels in Kashmir: A Popular History of Its People, Places, and Crafts” by Brigid Keenan. The summary on the back of the book starts with, “This is the story of Kashmir as it appears in travel literature and historical writings from ancient times to the twentieth century.”
I began reading it on my flight from Delhi to Srinagar earlier today, and it shows promise of being a helpful and enjoyable book on Kashmir. I’ll try to share more after completing it.
I also picked up two other books on India while at the bookstore. One of them details the great Mughal emperors of India, titled “Emperors of the Peacock Throne” by Abraham Eraly. Apparently outside of India the book is titled “The Mughal Throne.”
When I first was looking at the description on the back of the book I wondered what my favorite author on India, William Dalrymple, thought of the book. I then happened to notice this endorsement on the front cover: “It is hard to imagine anyone succeeding more gracefully in producing a balanced overview than Abraham Eraly” – William Dalrymple. That was all I needed to know!
The third book I purchased is interestingly titled “In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India” by Edward Luce. And once again, what did I find on the front cover – “Without question the best book yet written on the New India” – William Dalrymple. As I was already in the travel/history books on India mood I quickly decided to get this one too.
As I mentioned above, I’ll do my best to share more on each of these books as I finish reading them. If anyone else happens to have read any of these already, let me know your thoughts about them in the comments.
2 Responses to “New Books on Kashmir, the Mughals, & India”
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Kashmir Gallery
William Dalrymple sent your blog on my book Travels in Kashmir to me this morning and I was so thrilled to hear that (so far) you are enjoying it. I was in Kashmir in January after a break of 20 years and I have to say I found my own book EXTREMELY useful – there still doesnt seem to be anything to replace it when you are in Srinagar! Many thanks, Brigid
Hi Brigid – glad to know you came across our blog via William Dalrymple! Good books on Kashmir are certainly hard to come by, which is why I was glad to find a copy of your book. I once saw a shopkeeper in Srinagar reading it a couple years ago, but then couldn’t remember the exact title until I recognized the cover when I saw it at the bookshop in Delhi. If you happen to have a link or website that provides an overview of your book, let me know and I’ll gladly add it.