sunjaybooks 's review for:

New Old World by Pallavi Aiyar

3.0

informative slow-paced

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There's a lot of interesting anecdotes, and I found a few of the threads of argument compelling - the comparison of India as a national project and the European Union, the discussion of racism and the short-sighted attitudes of Europeans toward non-Europeans and their own history. There were also a number of arguments I found less compelling - the reflexive skepticism toward organized labor, the failed gestures of class consciousness that ultimately came down in favor of the sort of economic stratefication that benefits wealthy Indians. And the book as a whole is at this point pretty dated - there's a number of times when I was like "Oh yeah I remember this discourse. So wild how different the world is now."