Non-fiction 2009
Odes to Obama & Oriental rule
Harsh Desai

Five books have been selected for you this year and each deserves a place on your shelf. One is a book about the historic Obama election; one is the biography of the greatest American short story writer, one is a travelogue through the heart of Islam, another a search for the sacred in India, and the fifth is a book about the wizards of finance.

• Nine Lives’ in Search of the Sacred in Modern India (by William Dalrymple): William Dalrymple’s latest book moves effortlessly from the foothills of the Himalayas to the Cauvery Delta, from the deserts of Rajasthan to Rural West Bengal, all in search of the sacred in modern India. He makes an attempt through the examination of nine lives, including that of a Buddhist monk who spent most of his life in the Indian army and was trying to expatiate that sin by printing prayer flags in Dharmasala; to the story of the Jain nun, who, despite the fact that she was in perfect health, was determined to starve herself to death in a ritual known to the Jains as Salekhana; to the story of the Bhopas, who in an incredible feat of memory recited entire stories over four to five nights invoking God. The book also travels to a sufi shrine in rural Sind, where the red fairy propitiates the gods in a ritual known as dhamaal. Dalrymple travels to a remote part of the country to meet people who in some way or another are connected to things godly; he gets the back story of all these people from their childhood to where they are today and it makes fascinating reading. It also tells you how intrinsically our lives are bound up with the religious and the sacred.

• Stranger to History (by Aatish Taseer): This supremely well-written book is particularly relevant to the times. It is a personal journey the author takes on a dare from his father to discover both his personal identity and his religious identity. Aatish travels from Turkey to Syria to Saudi Arabia to Iran to Pakistan to understand his Muslim identity better and the journey is full of revealing glimpses into the difference between the countries and interesting encounters with the locals. And it is never short of adventure. For instance, he is present in Damascus when the Danish embassy is burnt after the cartoons controversy engulfs the Islamic world and he is interviewed, entangled by the Iranian secret service when he is in Tehran.

The chapters of his travels are interspersed with chapters about the story of his Pakistani Muslim father and his Sikh Indian mother and their whirlwind romance marriage and separation and his attempts, sometimes desperate, to get to know his father better and penetrate his wall of indifference.

• Renegade (by Richard Wolffe): The 2008 election was a poll the Americans regarded as the election of their lifetime, an election that could potentially make or break America. And the man elected was the first black President. So, it was historic – but how was this done; how did this community organiser from Chicago go on to become the 44the President of the United States of America, What sparked the election? How were the millions of dollars raised? How did he taken on the Clinton machine. What happened after the victory in Iowa turned into defeat in New Hampshire and nearly derailed the campaign. Richard Wolffe of Newsweek magazine, who had a ringside view of the campaign, takes you on a whirlwind tour: how was history made brick by brick. How did the slogan ‘Yes we can’ come into existence. How did Obama react to an early primary defeat? This is a book worth having on your shelf.

• The Sages: Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker and the Maelstrom of Markets (by Charles R Morris): This book contains three lengthy biographical essays about three famed wizards who dominated financial markets for the second half of the 20th century, one as a regulator. They are stories of how great the influence of the three was though they were in very different fields – Soros and Buffett though investing and fund managers with completely different investment styles and Volcker, who was the Federal Reserve Chairman for eight long years, played a central part in taming the demon of inflation in America in the eighties. The book shows that investing at its best is an art rather than a science and luck plays a part. But all three had a steady hand and longevity was their trump card. In these troubled economic times as the stock markets rise and fall this is a book worth having at your side.

• Cheever A Life (by Blake Bailey): This is probably the literary biography of the year. It is about the troubled life of John Cheever regarded by many as one of the greatest short story writers that America has produced though one who was plagued all through his life by his struggle with drink, money, his sexuality and his troubled relations with his family. In his personal journal in his years, when he was writing for the New Yorker, he was sometimes so anguished about his lack of recognition and travails with money that in his despondency he thought of committing suicide. This despondency followed him for most of his life.

One of his great struggles was making the transition from a short story writer to a writer of novels; a transition, which he made successfully, but it took a lot out of him. This big gossipy biography is so detailed and so precise that it is a storybook with Cheever could have approved of. This is a book worth having on your shelf.

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