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My Dagestan (Мой Дагестан) (Avar: Дир Дагъистан) by R asul Gamzatov . The book was translated in English in 1970 by Julius Katzer and Dorian Rottenberg. ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading Let me speak of Dagestan —a rugged land along North Caucasus of Eastern Europe and the western shore of the Caspian Sea. The word Dagestan is of Turkish and Persian origin, directly translating to "land of the mountains".  The land has for centuries been a mosaic of peoples and languages: Avars, Dargins, Lezgins, Laks, Kumyks, and many others. The territory was annexed into the Russian Empire after protracted wars in the early nineteenth century.   By 1921, with the Red Army’s advance, the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic came into being.  Soviet state enforced sweeping modernization in  Dagestan, bringing it into line with Marxist-Leninist ideology while managing the religious sentiments.  Arabic was replaced first by Latin, later by Cyrillic; schools sprang up, teach...

Bhutan: The Kingdom at the Centre of the World  by  Omair Ahmad Bhutan: The Kingdom at the Centre of the World | Goodreads ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading Despite the neighboring state of India, relatively limited number of books for common readers are available on Bhutan , a landlocked country in the Eastern Himalayas. This can be attributed to  unique geography and isolation  a policy of self-imposed isolation, which was successful in preserving its territorial integrity  as a Himalayan kingdom. Bhutan is much less known in the U.S. and western hemisphere that too for its Buddhism and as a mystical, serene travel destination.  Bhutan is slowly gaining popularity as a travel destination and t he readers will know a surprising  fact  on reading the book co nnecting Bhutan with the ' Golden Gate Bridge ' of San Francisco. Omair Ahmad has written an  insightful and beautiful book into the history of Bhutan, Druk Yul: Land of the Thunder Dragon. The book is...

Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy by Christopher L. Hayes ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading “To see what is in front of one’s nose is a constant struggle,” George Orwell famously observed. So, what is it that American liberals and conservatives have missed? Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy is a 2012 nonfiction book written by Christopher Hayes. The book Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy by Christopher L. Hayes explores the crisis of authority in America, attributing it to the failures of the modern meritocracy. Hayes argues that since the 1960s, as more diverse groups rose to elite status through meritocratic means, a new elite emerged that is marked by increased social distance, corruption, and institutional failure.  This elite, embraced inequality, leading to widespread distrust in key institutions such as government, corporate America, the media, and even sports organizations.  Today, the children of these  elites enjoy outsized ret...

Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan  by William Dalrymple ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly Recommended Despite the significant failures experienced in Vietnam, the idea of American exceptionalism remained deeply ingrained in the U.S. national psyche till 2000. Then, 9/11 happened. A focused military-intelligence operation targeting the perpetrators of 9/11 could have addressed domestic demands for justice. Alas, Bush administration launched a large-scale ground invasion of Afghanistan.  USA withdrew ultimately from war scarred land of Afghanistan, marking the end of a twenty-year military presence. They couldn't capture and run a dummy Afghan government. Sounds familiar !  The aphorism “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes” is evident in these events when the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, echoing past foreign interventions in the country. The rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s government and swift Taliban resurgence after the U.S. exit underscore the c...

" The Seen and the Unseen " is India's premier long-form podcast hosted by Amit Varma. The podcast, which has been running since 2017, features long-form conversations with intellectuals, writers, economists, historians, and thought leaders from India and around the world. I am only sharing the books recommended related to  Indian History:  Post-Independence to Contemporary India (1970s–Present) India after Gandhi — Ramachandra Guha 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh — Srinath Raghavan Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy’s Turning Point — Gyan Prakash India Moving: A History of Migration — Chinmay Tumbe Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati The Paradoxical Prime Minister — Shashi Tharoor The Generation of Rage in Kashmir — David Devadas Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth-Century India — Jahnavi Phalkey Independence and Nation-Building Era (1940s–1970s) VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu The M...