Thy Hand, Great Anarch! India 1921-1952

According to PW , this second volume of Chaudhuri's memoirs is ``a courageous, provocative, sometimes provoking but unquestionably major book by a fiery polymath.'' His fundamental thesis is that the British Raj in its 19th-century heyday brought the breath of life to Indian, and more specifically Bengali, culture, and that there is more corruption and lawlessness in India now than there was then. (Sept.)