The Age of Kali: Indian Travels and Encounters
William Dalrymple (1998)

THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

Those wanting to know more about the India subcontinent should read William Dalrymple’s The Age of Kali, a collection of essays that stem from his extensive travel around the India subcontinent, and his love affair with this part of the world.  The book focuses on the troubled history of this region; the title in fact refers to the Hindu belief in the Kali Yuga, the last of the four stages of the world, a time associated with strife and discord.  Dalrymple’s curiosity is contagious; he straightforwardly covers many controversial subjects in the book such as child marriage, caste massacres, and Sati, a Hindu tradition when a wife commits suicide after her husband’s death.  There are several very interesting interviews, including discussions with Pakistani cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan and Benazir Bhutto, the 11th prime minister of Pakistan.  This book has a little more history than his earlier book, The City of Djinns, which focuses more on daily life living in India.
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OTHER A5 RECOMMENDED TRAVEL BOOKS - WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

William Dalrymple is an accomplished writer, famous both for his travel books on trips through Asia and the Middle East, and later in his career for his writing on history.  He is best known for his first book, In Xanadu: A Quest, which he wrote when he was only 22.  He is a regular contributor to numerous magazines, a prominent broadcaster on TV and radio, and a co-founder of the Jaipur Literary Festival,  We recommend several of his books,

GREAT QUOTES:

“This book covers so many sensitive areas that it is bound to raise a few cries of protest and dissent, particularly from Indians understandably touchy about criticism from abroad; but it is a work of love.  Its subject is an area of the world I revere like no other, and to which I have chosen to spend most of my time since I was free to make that choice.  From my first visit to the region as an eighteen-year-old backpacker, I was completely overwhelmed: India thrilled, surprised, daunted and excited me.  Since then it has never ceased to amaze; and I hope that that ceaseless power to delight and astonish, if nothing else, is conveyed by this book."
- William Dalrymple, from the introduction to The Age of Kali

INTERESTING LINKS:

  • Get more information on The Age of Kali and the author himself at his own website.
  • Learn more about the Kali Yuga, the age of vice, from Wikipedia.