Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond

A vivid, often surprising account of South Asia today by the author of An End to Suffering

In his new book, Pankaj Mishra brings literary authority and political insight to bear on travels that are at once epic and personal. Traveling in the changing cultures of South Asia, Mishra sees the pressures—the temptations—of Western-style modernity and prosperity, and teases out the paradoxes of globalization. A

visit to Allahabad, birthplace of Jawaharlal Nehru, occasions a brief history of the t...