Definitely a perspective altering book. Must read for those interested in fields of Sustainability Studies, Human Rights, Cosmopolitan Exploitation of Land and People, Indian Solidarity Movements, Economic Inequalities and Third World Feminism. Very powerful.

n  Her point on nuclear weapons in The End of Imagination chapter is something everyone (not just International Relations, Politics, Political Science, etc major) should read.n

I actually read this back in 2002, but I forgot that when I bought it at the library sale. I just love her writing so much, and I really wish she would write another fiction book. She has said in interviews that as long as the political horrors continue, she can't take the time to write fiction. Plus, nobody, I mean nobody, says the words "George Bush" with as much venom as Roy.

It's going to make you think.... About all technologies and about all development we take for granted as part of our national identity and our identity as world citizens. It's not just going to make you think but also help you think on these subjects. Also, words that are almost two decades old stand true and strong even today.

This is a scathing polemic by Arundhati Roy on the Indian government initiatives to build expensive dam projects and nuclear bombs. Using bullets disguised as facts, this book places a heavy question mark on the empty promises that the government makes to poor farmers and tribes before eradicating their homes -- all in the name of the greater common good.

Roy's Leftism percolates all of her works, and this being a non-fiction piece is even more directly so.

Wow, wow, wow. I haven't read Roy's fiction, but she is an absolutely amazing polemicist. Her ethically engaged, brutally irony, coldly confrontational, and deeply moving prose shows a an elegant rage equal to the best every produced by someone like Marx (A specter hangs over India?). The two essays in this collection pull no punches in holding the Indian government accountable for the horrendous mistakes of the mega-dams and India's nuclear armament. The mega-dams displace tens (maybe even hundreds) of millions of people, who get no compensation, no land, no jobs, no opportunities, and no hope in return; they destroy environments, cultures, agricultural lands, ecosystems, biodiversity; they produce tiny fractions of the benefits promised to the public, often costing 3-4 times the estimated price and bringing only small benefits when they bring benefits at all. This is a critique of India's immersion in the neoliberal world order--the order of international capitalism that sees the role of governments and international financial institutions as essentially ATMs there to disburse money for projects with no real objective/detached/independent analysis of whether the money should be spent.

In the second essay of this collection Roy argues that the Indian government built the bomb precisely because it is easier to brandish a stick capable of destroying the planet than it is to actually help those citizens most in need. The government chose the singular vision of India it wanted, and tricked the public (who remain criminally under-educated, under-fed, and unable to access necessary resources like safe drinking water) into endorsing the bomb as an expression of Hindu nationalism and the violent disregard for consequences.

Actually, I only got halfway through. It was not as engrossing as I had hoped, but then again, it's a different sort of book than I thought it would be.

Roy did a really good job of making me sad and angry at the same time! India's dam project that does more harm than good, and the nuclear weapons development made the country's future look pretty bleak. I can't even imagine a government that does so awful a job of even pretending to care about its citizens. I'm feeling pretty upset!! Fuck that!! I've never been affected by anything like the government carelessness or greed she described. It's awful. I'm disgusted at how things played out since the book was written.

I ran out of books to read, and WWU's library doesn't have a fiction section, so I picked this up at the book swap. I wasn't expecting non-fiction, but I'm glad I read it. But I'm still left with the question of how does this stuff happen?! and why!

Features two essays ("The Greater Common Good" and "The End of Imagination") previously published in the magazines Frontline and Outlook. "The Greater Common Good" details the horrors caused by dam-building in India. "The End of Imagination" focuses on the detonation of India's first nuclear bomb. Both essays were extremely haunting and thought-provoking. However, I read both essays roughly 10 years after their original publications and I don't know much about what has happened since...improved? worsened? stayed the same? More research required on my part.

This is an opinion piece and I absolutely loved the opinion. She put in facts to support her conclusions. She talks about development in India against the poor and about nuclear warheads and how they do not create peace.

Two very well written essays:
For the Common Good - on the destruction of land, environment and all the social consequences. of the building a mega dam project on the Narmada River system in India. (Sadar Sarovar).

When I think of the losses of culture and land and earth's health through through submergence, I think of the impactful art installation, Āniwaniwa by Brett Graham and Rachael Rakena. (2007)

Both essays also seem to legitimately question...Are mega projects for the sake of 'international prestige'?

Both essays discuss the Indigenous peoples -the Adivasi. Pertinent and sad ongoing stories. "The people whose lives were going to be devastated were neither informed nor consulted nor heard"

Her writing is great, with technical and political information that includes a personal voice. I would love to read her response to the Narmada project, now, 25 years later.

I was inspired to read this after reading a compelling recent article by Roy on the current socio-political situation in India.

I have a lot of respect for Roy as a writer and really wanted to like this, but was underwhelmed.

4/10

Loved this book. Really good writing and rings so close to home...