From the Ruins of Empire The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia
By Pankaj Mishra

Pankaj Mishra's provocative account of how China, India and the Muslim World are remaking the world in their own image - shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2013SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2013Viewed in the West as a time of self-confident progress, the Victorian period was experienced by Asians as a catastrophe. As the British gunned down the last heirs to the Mughal Empire or burned down the Summer Palace in Beijing, it was clear that for Asia to recover a new way of thinking was needed. Pankaj Mishra re-tells the history of the past two centuries, showing how a remarkable, disparate group of thinkers, journalists, radicals and charismatics emerged from the ruins of empire to create an unstoppable Asian renaissance, one whose ideas lie behind everything from the Chinese Communist Party to the Muslim Brotherhood, and have made our world what it is today.Reviews:'Arrestingly original ... this penetrating and disquieting book should be on the reading list of anybody who wants to understand where we are today'and John Gray,and Independent'A riveting account that makes new and illuminating connections ... deeply entertaining and deeply humane'and Hisham Matar'Fascinating ... a rich and genuinely thought-provoking book'and Noel Malcolm,and Sunday Telegraph'Provocative, shaming and convincing'and Michael Binyon,and The Times'Lively ... engaging ... retains the power to shock'and Mark Mazower,and Financial Times'Subtle, erudite and entertaining'and Economist, New DelhiAbout the author:Pankaj Mishra is the author ofand Butter Chicken in Ludiana,and The Romantics,and An End to Sufferingand andand Temptations of the West. He writes principally for theand Guardian,and The New York Times,and London Review of Booksand andand New York Review of Books. He lives in London, Shimla and New York.