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

by Siddhartha Deb
Faber & Faber, 272 pp., $26

Just as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels might spur a reader to seek the real-world underpinnings of those Jazz Age fictions, that movie you saw a while ago, Slumdog Millionaire, might spur you to seek the deeper facts behind Danny Boyle’s cinematic fable. Here they are, presented by the critically lauded Deb in this book of his return to (and roving, methodical exploration of) his land of origin after six years stateside. The writer’s journey is enhanced by interviews with people from diverse social strata and offers a thoughtful look at the promise and problems of the struggling subcontinent.

India, Pakistan, and an Uncertain Future: Saturday, Oct. 22, 1:30-2:30pm, C-SPAN/Book TV Tent

This article appears in October 21 • 2011.

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