Book Review: In Spite of the Gods

by Eyck Freymann


This weekend I read In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce, a former Clinton administration speechwriter and South Asia correspondent for the Financial Times.

The book is truly fascinating. Most Americans know very little about India, home to 1.1 billion people. Luce describes the intricacies of its rigid social hierarchy and political culture in a way that is insightful and accurate while still accessible to a Western reader.
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India's entire national identity is defied by the tug of war between an emerging technological economy and a deeply rooted cultural heritage. The Hindu caste system, the set of inflexible social classes which determines the lofty and the low of Indian society, is holding fast against the onslaught of Western influences. The IAS, the extensive government bureaucracy which employs millions of citizens, is riddled with corruption.

The ghosts of three major figures in Indian history: Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru (who helped push out the British) and Bhimrao Ambedkar (a champion of the lowest caste) still lurk over Indian politics. Nehru's Congress Party has largely dominated since Independence in 1947, but the myriad ethnic and linguistic groups in the country require massive coalitions of dozens of parties in order for working majorities to be secured. Increasingly, the country's Westernization (at least in the urban areas) is triggering a backlash from fundamentalists of both Hindu and Muslim faith.

The book culminates with a look to the future, anticipating India's place in the international scene in years ahead (which the US has secured by giving the Indians nuclear technology). The nation, Luce argues, could be a crucial part of the West's efforts to keep an expanding China in check.

On the whole, I was thoroughly rewarded for my time reading this book. Although it carried on a bit too long at times, it was a decent length (roughly 350 pages, readable font) for the amount and quality of information it contains.