From the Ruins of Empire : The Revolt Ag

Pankaj Mishras provocative account of how China India and the Muslim World are remaking the world in their own image - shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2013SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2013Viewed in the West as a time of self-confident progress the Victorian period was experienced by Asians as a catastrophe. As the British gunned down the last heirs to the Mughal Empire or burned down the Summer Palace in Beijing it was clear that for Asia to recover a new way of thinking was needed. Pankaj Mishra re-tells the history of the past two centuries showing how a remarkable disparate group of thinkers journalists radicals and charismatics emerged from the ruins of empire to create an unstoppable Asian renaissance one whose ideas lie behind everything from the Chinese Communist Party to the Muslim Brotherhood and have made our world what it is today.Reviews:Arrestingly original ... this penetrating and disquieting book should be on the reading list of anybody who wants to understand where we are today John Gray Independent A riveting account that makes new and illuminating connections ... deeply entertaining and deeply humane Hisham MatarFascinating ... a rich and genuinely thought-provoking book Noel Malcolm Sunday TelegraphProvocative shaming and convincing Michael Binyon The Times Lively ... engaging ... retains the power to shock Mark Mazower Financial TimesSubtle erudite and entertaining Economist New DelhiAbout the author:Pankaj Mishra is the author of Butter Chicken in Ludiana The Romantics An End to Suffering and Temptations of the West. He writes principally for the Guardian The New York Times London Review of Books and New York Review of Books. He lives in London Shimla and New York. Review Meticulous scholarship ... History as Mishra insists has been glossed and distorted by the conqueror ... [This] passionate account of the relentless subjugation of Asian empires by European especially British imperialism is provocative shaming and convincing -- Michael Binyon ―The TimesOne can only be thankful for writers like Mishra.From The Ruins Of Empire is erudite provocative inspiring and unremittingly complex; a model kind of non-fiction for our disordered days ... May well be seen in years to come as a defining volume of its kind -- Stuart Kelly ―ScotsmanDeeply researched and arrestingly original ... this penetrating and disquieting book should be on the reading list of anybody who wants to understand where we are today -- John Gray ―IndependentFrom the Ruins of Empire gives eloquent voice to [the] curious complex intellectual odysseys ... of some of Asias most educated thoughtful men -- Julia Lovell ―GuardianFascinating ... a rich and genuinely thought-provoking book -- Noel Malcolm ―TelegraphSuperb and ground-breaking. Not just a brilliant history of Asia but a vital history for Asians -- Mohsin HamidLively ... engaging ...From the Ruins of Empire retains the power to instruct and even to shock. It provides us with an exciting glimpse of the vast and still largely unexplored terrain of anti-colonial thought that shaped so much of the post-western world in which we now live -- Mark Mazower ―Financial TimesBrilliant ... Mishra reverses the long gaze of the West upon the East showing modern history as it has been felt by the majority of the worlds population - from Turkey to China. These are the amazing stories of the grandfathers of todays angry Asians. Excellent -- Orhan PamukJolts our historical imagination ... a book of vast and wondrous learning and delightful and surprising associations that will give a new meaning to liberation geography -- Hamid Dabashi (Professor of Iranian Studies Columbia University New York)After Edward Saids masterpieceOrientalismFrom the Ruins of Empire offers another bracing view of the history of the modern world. Pankaj Mishra [is] a brilliant author of wide learning ... skil