- Paperback: 128 pages
- Publisher: South End Press (Sep 1 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0896086569
- ISBN-13: 978-0896086562
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15 x 0.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,608,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This second nonfiction book from the author of the acclaimed novel The God of Small Things returns to the subject she first explored in The Cost of Living: what she sees as the iniquity of globalization and the dangers of privatization, particularly in dam construction. In this slim yet meandering volume of three essays, Roy also criticizes an American energy company and the Indian government for allowing big business to make money privatizing electricity in a country where hundreds of millions lack any electricity. Roy's activism against the construction of dams that displace hundreds of thousands, especially the poor and low-caste, earned her a contempt of court citation from India's Supreme Court. She includes here her response, "On the Writer's Freedom of Imagination," but little context or explanation is given to help readers situate it. Likewise, Roy's other two short essays, ostensibly about the role of the writer (or "writer-activist," as she puts it) in society, criticize development, trade and global finance. Although her passion and agitation on these issues is commendable, her writing lacks analysis, and her generalized outrage and hyperbole make much of her criticism wooden. She tends to switch between issues of trade and her fame, losing the reader. The three pieces seem thrown together haphazardly, with no editorial explanation of how they originated (all are available on the Web) or in what context.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Book Description
Arundhati Roy, the internationally acclaimed author of The God of Small Things, explores the politics of writing and the human and environmental price of "development" in her latest work, Power Politics. In a clear and compelling voice, Roy challenges the idea that only "experts" can speak out on such urgent matters as nuclear war, the tolls of privatization of India's power supply by U.S.-based energy companies, and the construction of monumental dams in India, which promises the dislocation of hundreds of thousands of people.
Roy describes the challenges she has faced in speaking out on contemporary politics after the tremendous international success of her novel The God of Small Things, winner of the prestigious Booker Prize. Here, Roy updates The Cost of Living, described by Salman Rushdie as "brilliant reportage with a passionate, no-holds-barred commentary." In Power Politics, she takes us to the frontlines of struggle for social justice and a humane, democratic future in India.
In this latest work, Roy writes of "the politics of joining hands across the world and preventing certain destruction...in the present circumstances, I'd say that the only thing worth globalizing is dissent."
Born in 1961 in Bengal, Arundhati Roy grew up in Kerala and trained as an architect at the Delhi School of Architecture. Writing in the New York Times, John Updike observed, "The quality of Ms. Roy's narration is so extraordinary-at once so morally strenuous and so imaginatively supple-that the reader remains enthralled all the way through." She is the author of The God of Small Things (HarperCollins) and The Cost of Living (Modern Library).
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clarity, Depth, Detail and Style Up the Wazoo,
By J.W.K (Nagano, Japan) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Power Politics: Second Edition (Hardcover)
A B S O L U T E L Y ~ A M A Z I N G This book is first and foremost a case study of the "civil war" being waged against many Indian citizens by their own government, in the name of development. Asside from that, this book is also a work of art. A gifted writer and profound thinker who has taken up the pen for the sake of social justice. If you can't afford it, write me and I'll loan you my copy!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I was almost brought to tears.....,
By Bob Berkowitz (Miami, Fl) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Power Politics (Paperback)
As someone who is admittedly and shamefully, completely ignorant about the current socio-political situation in India, I was nevertheless nearly moved to tears at the heroism of how so many displaced villagers gathered up the courage to protest the outrages of being forced to abandon their homes due to pointless and environmentally-harmful "big dams"I also felt great outrage over how unfairly Roy was being persecuted by her own government and courts for simply writing what she believes in. However, through her bravery, she never even contemplates leaving her country for greater personal (or economic)security but stays on to fight the good fight. Truly commendable person. And this is a powerful book surely not to be missed.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fresh take on globalization,
By
This review is from: Power Politics (Second Edition) (Paperback)
Arundhati Roy bristles at being called a "writer-activist" (too much like sofa-bed, she says), but the rest of us should be grateful that the author of "The God of Small Things" is taking on the establishment, here and in India.Part of Mrs. Roy's greatness is that she is not colored by the partisan debates that influence the dialogue on issues such as globalization in America. She is an equal-opportunity critic, taking on Clinton and Bush. Although other authors pledge no allegiance to either side of the aisle, Roy has a fresh perspective, and has a take on globalization that I haven't found in works by American authors. This book is set up as a collection (a rather random collection) of several essays. The first essay gives a wonderful perspective of globalization (ie. the expansion of American business interests) from a foreign perspective. She examines the impact of the global economic movement on the actual people being affected by it at the lowest level. She reveals the influence of the privatization of the electric industry through the eyes of India's poorest citizens. The second essay goes in-depth into politics in India, primarily addressing the enormous number of dams being built in the country, and the impacts (economic, environmental, social) that they will have. Mrs. Roy explicitly recounts how Enron scammed the Indian government into building new power generators, and how this will cost India hundreds of millions per year while lining the pockets of American business interests. Critics will say that "Power Politics" is devoid of hard facts and analysis, but there can be no doubt that this book is worth a read. She may lack the economic background of Stiglitz, but her passion and style, in addition to her ability to articulate the important issues in the globalization debate in a readable manner, will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in global economic expansion.
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