Books & Arts

“The Master Race wants peace”

By the first week of February 1943 the Soviet Union had been pulled into the Second World War, the Germans fighting, and then surrendering to, the Red Army in Stalingrad. Though the horrendous deeds of the Germans in this war are most infamously attributed to the mass murder of Jews in extermination camps, atrocities were occurring within Germany against its own people as well. More (13)»

Interview with Samrat Upadhyay

It’s impossible not to grow as a writer if you treat it as a discipline and work on improving your craft—on a regular basis. With The Royal Ghosts, even while I was writing the individual stories, I was more conscious of them eventually culminating in a book, so some of my approaches in terms of characters and points of view were more deliberate. More (98)»

Samrat Upadhyay’s Royal Ghosts

When his first book was published, Samrat Upadhyay was known and marketed as “the first Nepali author writing in English to be published in the West.” This appeared to be a big deal; earning a Whiting Award for the collection made it an even bigger deal. Here in the U.S., I noticed the book, “Arresting God in Kathmandu”, on the shelves of countless Nepalis. More (87)»

Dibyopadesh

They say — as the old die their words fall unto the young. As I preach to you, such will you teach your children, and they will teach my children in turn, so they will keep and enjoy this estate. More»

Letters to a Young Contrarian

“It is a strange thing,” writes Christopher Hitchens in Letters to a Young Contrarian, “but it remains true that our language and culture contain no proper word for your aspiration.” Indeed the word “contrarian”—someone who is disposed to taking a contrary position against what is habitual—is not entirely useful with its emphasis on the symptom rather than the modus operandi; after all, Hitchens’ tenet is the importance of how you think, not what you think—he has stated elsewhere that he became a journalist in order to avoid relying on newspapers for information. More»

Letters to a Young Activist

Drawing from his experience as an activist in the sixties, Todd Gitlin puts together a collection of anecdotes, advice and cautionary warnings in his book Letters to a Young Activist, part of “the Art of Mentoring” series modeled upon Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. More»

No More Tears Sister

Screened at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York recently, “No more Tears Sister: Anatomy of Hope and Betrayal” documents the story of human rights activist Rajani Thiranagama, assassinated in 1989. More»

Journey Through Genocide

After over a decade since the Rwandan genocide of 1994, we are beginning to see attempts at dealing with its atrocities slowly coming out. One such attempt is the Oscar-nominated “Hotel Rwanda”. More»

Machuca

Two 11-year old boys of drastically differing socioeconomic classes can be friends for some time, but in five years one of them will be starting college and the other will be cleaning toilets; in 10 years, one of them will be working in his father’s company and the other will be cleaning toilets; in 15 years, one of them will own his father’s company and the other will still be cleaning toilets. More»

Born into Brothels

“Born into Brothels”, by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, is a documentary depicting the lives of children of prostitutes in the red light district of Calcutta. Long after the film was over, I found myself thinking about the faces of those children, their smiles in particular—the smiles, with the authenticity that can only come from an utter lack of self consciousness found in children, seemingly more heart wrenching than any tears or disappointment. More»

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