From other countries Ambar Banerjee5.0 out of 5 stars Why you should read Argumentative Indians?Reviewed in India on 21 July 2020Verified PurchaseI have enjoyed visualizing the rich content of this book about our ancient culture & history.
From Rabindranath Tagore's influence of freedom to more than 1000 years of relationship between India & China (education, religion, trade), this book can connect readers for argument & understand Sen's intellectual view. Among various essays my favorite part of the book is: "Democracy makes a direct contribution to healthcare by bringing social failures into public scrutiny. This connection is similar to more prominent observation that major famine do not occur in democracies, even when they are very poor. Large famines, which continued to occur in British-India (1943- just 4 years before India's independence), disappeared abruptly with the establishment of multi-party democracy in India."
On the other hand, the entrepreneurship journey of Jamshetji Tata to build one of the biggest Iron & Steel Empires in India along with Globalization of ideas made me discover about the existence of plural identities that we all want to live in. After all one's identity is a matter of discovery than choice. Now the question is, what decision we make by giving importance to particular identity over others related to political beliefs, religion, nationality or professional attachments?
Some of you (reader) might or might not agree with Sen's intellectual view but this book is a page-turner for anyone to stimulate one’s thinking for argument, learning & discovery.Customer image12 people found this helpfulReport Mr. Biswajit Chanda5.0 out of 5 stars I love his workReviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 March 2016Verified PurchaseWhen a book is written by Amartya Sen, it does not require any comments. We are not able to judge this world-level scholar's work. I love his work.Report Dr. Gopinath Menin3.0 out of 5 stars Three StarsReviewed in Canada on 8 October 2015Verified Purchasecan be hard reading for someone not exposed to eastern culture. Very academic at some places.Report recluse3.0 out of 5 stars おいおい本当かよ？？Reviewed in Japan on 26 March 2006Verified Purchaseここに描かれるのは、oriana falalciが"force of reason"で描いた歴史観とは別な世界です。ここでは様々な宗教が共存して、アショカ王やアクバル皇帝の下で融合し、理性の下で更なる高みへの昇華を求める知識人の世界です。著者はインドの長い歴史に見られる多元主義の伝統とその結果としての”世俗主義”のインドにおける本質的な重要性を何度にもわたって緻密で精巧な論理の下で強調します。そこで呈示されるのは多元主義の下で、”発見”されるのではなく、”選択”されるidentityというわけです。確かに、緻密で非の打ち所のない論理がここには展開されています。それだからこそ"argumentative indian"というわけです。インドは確かに、このような解釈を可能とさせます。私自身も子供のときにこの不思議なインドの多様性への”寛容”なるものの一端にかすかに触れたような気もしないでもないです。でも、これは本当リアリスティックな議論なのでしょうか？何か決して否定することのできない道徳のお題目を聞いたような感覚が最後まで抜けなかった読書体験でした。4 people found this helpfulReportTranslate review to English S.Plaum5.0 out of 5 stars nice qualityReviewed in Germany on 7 November 2022Verified Purchasefast delivery item in very good conditionReport Mkt Professor5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book!Reviewed in the United States on 7 July 2007Verified PurchaseIt's hard to imagine a tougher assignment than conveying the history and development of a culture in one book, but that's what Sen effectively accomplishes. Sen doesn't simplify the complex diversity of the Indian people and we are rewarded with a particularly rich understanding.
I enjoyed this type of treatment (a collection of writings), because articles that appeared later in the book helped reinforce earlier discussion without being overly repetitive.
Interesting factoid- one artifact of India's diversity is that all 17 languages are found on Rupee paper currency.4 people found this helpfulReport Venu4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive, Engaging, Deeply satisfying, Brilliant writing...Reviewed in the United States on 4 December 2005Verified Purchase[I have just finished the first chapter of this book... can't wait to read the rest in the coming days]This is my first reading of Amartya Sen's writings. After reading an excerpt of the "Argumentative Indian" recently, I ordered this book by this eminent Nobel Laureate.
The author doesn't waste time. Right off the bat, from the very first page in the first chapter, his book is filled with timely anecdotal commentary (with appropriate references) and precise discussion about the topic he is writing about.
His approach to Indian culture and history is very pragmatic and well thought out. His book clearly is not bound by any religious bias (... is sprinkled with examples of ancient and medieval Indian historical quotes/events of all religious contexts - from Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism...) The influence of Hinduism (and Buddhism) on Indian ethos and identity is of course not minimized.
Anecdotal quotes (... Jain philosophers response to Alexander's query) that are hard to find for the average reader and historical facts (that are not muddled by the popular historical accounts) are all presented here - and with riveting clarity and multiple references to scholarly works.
Reading through the book, one cannot but see how the profound philosophy and thoughts of two thousand years ago could be applied to the problems of today.
Many popular misconceptions of India will be dispelled by this book. For the well read about India, this is a treasure trove of information that one can refer to with satisfaction. Anyone with a desire to understand the Indian (be it in the US, Suriname or India) should read the book. In fact, every corporate head who is planning to open an office in India should read this book.
By the author's own admission, writing about India is a vast topic that is impossible to approach from any one perspective. My four star rating is simply an indication that no work is perfect and that there is always room for improvement. This book, IMHO, is far better than many of the 5-star rated books here on Amazon.
Excellent book and I highly recommend it. venu_ravi at yahoo dot com7 people found this helpfulReport Theo Rem3.0 out of 5 stars Exakt, was der Untertitel sagtReviewed in Germany on 3 August 2023Verified PurchaseEs sind ältere Arbeiten, wer etwas darüber erfahren möchte, wo indischer Nationalismus speziell und Identitätspolitik allgemein herkommen, wird fündig. Über indische Geschichte habe eine Menge gelernt. Für ein Verständnis des modernen Indien braucht man wohl neuere Texte. Ich vermute, Amartya Sen würde das heute so nicht mehr schreiben. Ein lesenswertes Buch!ReportTranslate review to English Nic Thompson5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 March 2018Verified PurchaseExcellent book, still reading it, good purchaseOne person found this helpfulReport Raunak Bhattacharjee5.0 out of 5 stars A must read to understand the real essence of IndiaReviewed in India on 7 July 2020Verified PurchaseThis is an anthology, containing multiple essays that Dr Sen has written over the years. They are deeply analytical in nature, especially epistemologically and ontologically, very diverse. Sen's Pluralist and multiculturalist stances get clearly reflected as he covers an extremely wide arena in Social Science with reference to India. He isn't cynical in his narrative, and the reader will find that he uses a very lucid language to reach to a larger audience. This piece of work is essentialist in nature, and involves comparative study in order to analyse all the aspects in their entirety.Customer image4 people found this helpfulReportNext page