Mr. Tandon wrote the book that surprisingly no one ever thought of writing. The book is sort of a biography of a family .. in it he has masterfully woven the whole society around it, though the reader never would realize his till you finish the book. He describes the society, the cultre and traditions from the past with great care love and nostalgia. His command of the subject is complete, I didn't find a single thing he wrote that I had known to be otherwise!!!

I first read this book 2 years ago and keep reading it again. Its a book about the Punjab that the British built ("without any hangovers from the Company") but it is also a book of Indian life of that period, and its the *best* such narration. India does not have a deep tradition of such narrations put to paper --not such superb stuff anyways. Earlier I'd read two "sequels" to this book about post-1947 India, and while they're very good, this one is really fascinating. Mr. Tandon *writes* !!

This is an absolutely superb account of a Punjabi family in transition, during a century of massive change that takes in the fading Mughal Empire in the 19th century and goes through the period of British colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries and finally to India's Independence in 1947. This is all seen though the eyes of a family in Punjab, which successfully makes the transition from old traditions to modernity, as seen through the thoughtful eyes of the author, who eventually becomes the first Indian Chairman of a renowned British multinational company in India and finally a leading senior manager in India's public sector. The author was also the first Chairman of the famous Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, set up together with the Harvard Business School and financial support from the Ford Foundation. Written with a verve and a keen and observant eye, it is socio-economic history at its very best. A must read for all Punjabis from India and Pakistan and for all general readers interested in the sub-continent plus all scholars of South Asia..It is a shame that this book it is out of print.The publisher should be encouraged to bring it back into print again!

It describes so vividly the backstreets of South Korea that you can see the pictures by reading. North Korea seems to be real axis of evel as President Bush claimed. Money is everything in South Korea and people even dream of furtune that is a pig. Leatherdale, the author/traveler describes what normal tourists can't see. You must read it.

It is written by a British traveler/writer and shows vividly the inside of the society. In South Korea, money is everything and they evern dream of money which is symbolized by a pig. In North Korea, extreme the opposite of South, there is no money even to dream of. The last Stalinist country on the earh, North Korea is a county of evel. No trourists can see the backstreets of South Korea.

It is an amazing story which describes vividly the inside of the society. Two Koreas are extremely different sides in every sense. No wonder President Bush called North Korea one of exis of evel, In Sourh, money is everything and they dream of pigs which symbolize fortunre. It tells you about every corner of back street of South Korea and what they think. Did it make South Korea a miracle of economy? You must read this book. Recommended for everybody.

The author has a definite goal in this book: to find truth behind the Peruvian (to be specific, Incan) birdmen, those who in legend flew over the South American jungles, whom are depicted in abundance in existing Incan textile. Previously I held no particular interest in Incan culture. I picked up the book at a bookstore simply because I had enjoyed enormously Shah's sense of humor in his previous book, "Sorcerer's Apprentice." I was in no sense disappointed.

Shah travels on foot/lamas through Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Nazca (where the "Nazca Lines," or geoglyphs, are located), Lima, Iquitos, and on boat along the Amazon and Corrientes rivers. A lot of research regarding flight history, Incan history, natural history, and local tribes were put into the monograph, evidenced by frequent remarks of classics within the passages and also by the bibliography at the end of the book. Shah's depiction of what he observed is lively, humorous, and most of all, engaging -- and precisely because it was engaging, I was kept in suspense over what the "final truth" of the birdmen might be.

The ending was compelling, but can be controversial. Instead of plainly stating facts as in usual travel logs, Shah takes a literary route and leaves the readers at the very climax of his journey. By this I mean the author not recording his way back, nor attempting to explain what he had discovered. I really liked the way it is as it left much space for me to imagine (besides, what could the author possibly contribute to a field -- the theory behind the origins of the Nazca Lines -- where the norm is speculation?).

If you are open to such literary deviations, this book is a great read, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

It's another of Shah's peculiar passions, shrunken heads, that spurs his quest up the Amazon in search of the legendary fliers of Peru. "..." Alas, all the heads at this invitation-only auction ("...") are scooped up and Shah's only consolation is the cryptic remark of a French collector that if he was forty years younger, he'd seek out the Birdmen of Peru.

As it happens, this also dovetails with Shah's interest in flight (...), and after some serious research into scant legends of pre-Wright flight, he takes the Frenchman's advice.

Shah, born into Afghan nobility, brought up in Britain, combines a neophyte's wariness with a a scholar's penchant for research and a dogged will to follow the clues anywhere. As a writer, his gift for capturing the absurd is surpassed only by his ability to laugh at himself, making for an aborbing, educational and hilarious trip through the remoter regions of Peru and Inca culture.

Ridiculously over-supplied, Shah struggles with his mounds of luggage from campsite to crowded bus and train, from dusty village to timeless ruins to, at last, the jungles of the Amazon rain forest. To start, a four-day backpacking trip across mountain passes brings him to sunrise over the lost Inca city of Macchu Pichu, missed by the gold-hunting conquistadors, but overrun by busloads of modern tourists. Here Shah examines a temple dedicated to the condor, but his guide tells him his obsession with flight misses the point. " 'Whether the Incas flew or not is irrelevant,' she said. 'Instead, you must ask why they wanted to fly.' " Shah takes this advice to heart and incorporates the spiritual element into his quest.

Passing the time with shopkeepers, launderers, expatriates and anyone else who crosses his path, Shah acquires good luck totems and encounters the looted graves of Peru's mummies, the mummies themselves littering the ground. In small museums he finds hundreds of woven birdmen in the mummies' exquisite funerary robes. He pauses in a town famous for vampires (to tourists anyway) and stays in a deserted luxury hotel, haunted by a bloodthirsty ghost. He reaches his own conclusions about the Nazca Lines, ancient desert etchings of animals whose forms can only be seen from the sky. He meets several shaman, one of whom cures Shah's troubled mind with a rite which involves a guinea pig and a prohibition against shaking hands for 40 days. Others use datura or curare.

Meandering, Shah makes his way toward the Shuar, the Birdmen, who live still in the remote jungle. A group of missionaries was murdered only the previous month for arriving with empty hands, he's told. Loaded with gifts as well as his state-of-the-art gear, Shah at last embarks in search of the tribes and their ayahuasca, a mind-altering "Vine of the Dead," their secret of flight.

His guide is a taciturn naturalist and Vietnam vet, an American named Richard, who seldom sleeps. The mysteries of nature are Richard's passion...Their transportation is a half-rotten hulk and after their first night, Shah discovers his shoes have been gnawed by rats. He decrees death to the rodents but the boat is shortly overrun with cockroaches and then wolf spiders - staples of the rats' diet. At a shoreside village, Shah buys new rats.

This is only the beginning. After arriving at his first Shuar village (...) Shah is taken to a shaman in the jungle and his description of the trip perfectly captures the difficulty of the modern traveler: "..." By the time he arrives at the Shaman's village he contemplates taking up life there. "..." But only here, deep in its natural home, can he fulfill his desire and learn the Shuar's ancient secret of flight.

Reader's of Shah's previous book, "Sorcerer's Apprentice" (a quest for magic in India) will recognize his unique affinity for the bizarre and surreal encountered while fulfilling his avid curiosity for the knowledge and traditions of other cultures. His writing is elegant, witty and often enigmatic and his eyewitness information is enhanced with meticulous research, seamlessly woven into the narrative. Shah's travel writing is in a class by itself.

There are perilous things that can happen if you try to start a collection of shrunken heads. Tahir Shah was "desperate to start a collection of my own," and so he showed up at a secretive, invitation-only auction of eleven such heads under the auspices of a "learned British society." To his dismay, within fifteen minutes, the whole set of heads was knocked down to a Japanese collector who had been "trying to corner the shrunken head market for years." The evening was not a total loss, as an elderly Frenchmen advised Shah to go to Peru. For the shrunken heads? Why, no, for the birdmen. This didn't make any sense, and the Frenchman would not elaborate, but a week later an envelope came from Paris, bearing an old feather and a quotation from a 1638 book that said Incas flew like birds over the jungle. Shah was launched onto research and travels recounted in _Trail of Feathers: In Search of the Birdmen of Peru_ (Arcade Publishing), and they make for frequently hilarious reading. He is a different type of explorer, pursuing an idea rather than going to regions no one has ever seen, and has endured with good humor atrocious travel arrangements and louche characters that would make other people scream.

After some research, he starts, of course, at the current hotspot for archeological tourism, Machu Picchu, which he finds looks from above like a condor. He goes to Nazca, the region of the famous patterns in the desert that only make sense when seen from high above. He is pursued by a Parisienne who is looking for a father for her children, and who comes equipped with a dried lama fetus which can be made, she says, into an aphrodisiac soup. In the village of Trompeteros, he attends with all the citizens the beauty contest sponsored by Inca Brand Condoms. (The master of ceremonies declares that the beauties on the stage were "clean-living girls who always used an Inca condom.") The crowd goes wild over every entrant, especially number six, who for the talent portion performs a dance which includes sucking live tree grubs from the floor and eating them. The search loops around into the upper Amazon regions, when Shah is convinced that rather than physical flight, the birdmen were psychic, or psychedelic, fliers. The experts in such flying were the Shuar tribe, the headshrinkers themselves. He finds a Vietnam vet who is only at home in the jungle, to act as guide and to hire a boat, which turns out to be rotten and full of rats and wolf spiders. After a trip of hellish tortures, they wind up in Shuar country only to be shocked: the Shuars have not only given up headshrinking and other tribal rituals, they have not only become Christians, but they have become evangelists. The missionaries have not, however, taken what would have been the fatuous step of trying to make the tribesmen abstain from ayahuasca, a hallucinogen. Shah's trip on it is the climax of the book. Yes, there were Inca birdmen.

This is a hilarious, picaresque tale which is not without its scholarly moments; Shah has done a good deal of research, and even has appendices to tell about hallucinogens and the theory of shrunken heads. There is a good deal of more-or-less practical information; read this book and you will ever after be able to perform a simple check to tell a good shrunken head from a bad one. His Vietnam vet dispenses the Five Rules of Jungle Travel: "One: chop stems downward and as low to the ground as possible; then they'll fall away from the path. Two: go slow, as speed only snags you on fish-hook thorns. Three: rest frequently and drink liquid. Four: love the jungle, don't hate it. Five: check your groin for parasites twice an hour." Words to live by. And if, by chance, the closest you get to a jungle expedition is to be reading this merry recollection, you will consider yourself lucky.

I so looked forward to reading White Mughals after the first reviews appeared in the UK papers. When it came out in paperback, I opened it with great anticipation. I was never let down - Dalrymple, known mainly for his highly evocative and well received travel books, has turned historian and historiographer to produce this wonderful, exquisite book.

Although on one level it tells the story of James Achilles Kirkpatrick, British Resident in Hyderabad at the close of the 18th century, this book is a beautifully written examination of a number of white men from all over Europe (and America) who went adventuring in India from the time of Elizabeth I. Many of them became "white mughals", immersing themselves in the lifestyle and religions (both Hindu and Muslim) of the various princely states. Eventually, though, and most sadly, racist attitudes and unreasonable demands on local rulers made it more and more difficult for these men to carry on and eventually too many of the British in India became narrow minded, intolerant and xenophobic. The British presence in India eventually became intolerable and so ended the British Empire in due course. The author is particularly scathing of Lord Wellesley's governor-generalship.

The author has created a wonderful tapestry of various men, their Indian wives and Anglo-Indian children, the art, literature, architecture, politics, military adventures, food, domestic arrangements, etc of a short but poignant era in Indian and British/western history. His scholarship is evident (the footnotes often fascinating) and he was very lucky to happen upon some original, never seen, sources which help make this book so vibrant.

The sad story of James and his Khair was both a tragedy and a triumph - I shall never forget them and, should I ever travel to India, Hyderabad and the old Residency are a must-see for me.

"White Mughals" is a fascinating picture of the British in India at the turn of the 19th century, before the British notions of Empire were fully formed. The author focuses on the life of James Kirkpatrick, a representative of the "Company," to explore the evolution of the British presence in India. Using the story of Kirkpatrick's marriage to a Mughal aristocrat as a touchstone, Dalrymple explores a different model for colonization. Kirkpatrick was the company's chief representative in Hyderabad, a Mughal kingdom. He admired and appreciated India's culture, customs and ancient learning, and quickly adapted to the Indian way of life. He was a gifted linguist and skilled diplomat, who successfully negotiated many thorny issues on behalf of the British with the rulers of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick exemplified a European who believed that East and West could work together for the benefit of both, that the rulers at the time and the British could co-exist, that customs and culture could blend together.

Dalrymple has assembled a huge amount of information, much of which is primary source material never before examined, to support the fact that this blending of cultures was common at the time. As might be expected, many British had Indian mistresses, but more surprisingly, intermarriage was not uncommon, and for a Muslim woman, marriage to a Non-Muslim could only occur if the man converted to Islam, which some did, including Kirkpatrick. At the time the Indian rulers were Muslim, but they did not attempt the impossible task of converting the Hindu population, and as a result, the same blending of culture that was occuring between east and west occurred to some extent between Hindu and Muslim. The two religions co-existed for the most part peacefully, a situation that changed radically at the time of Indian independence.

Inevitably, the Company became ever more profitable and the British presence stronger, while at the same time the Mughal Empire began to crumble. Successive Governor-Generals reversed the trend, mixed race children became the targets of discrimination, and the remaining Mughal princes were forced into unfavorable agreements with the British. By the time of the Indian Mutiny in 1857, the notion of Empire, and a separation between the English and Indians, was largely complete, to last for almost 100 years.

Finishing the book, one wonders whether the model exemplified by a Kirkpatrick would have worked. Or is conflict between cultures inevitable?--certainly in our fractured world it seems to be. Dalrymple's work is well-written, well-researched, and very thought-provoking.

"White Mughals" is truly a masterpiece. I was enthralled and was really intrigued by this extensively researched work on white mughals i.e., British company men who adopted the indian/mughal way of life once they were in India, quite contary to the single caricature most of us were raised to conjure up in our minds when thinking of them. The truth as always more complex, interesting and yes MUCH more redeeming than the cliche!

Many THANKS to Mr. Dalrymple for the hours of pleasure this book has already given - and I plan to read it several times over. It is also the perfecly balanced book - a very intellectually satisfying work of history based in fact (ah those vast primary sources referenced!), around a very romantic incident (reality, always more romantic than fiction) in a location, time and setting incomparable in terms of the multiple political/ cultural forces at work and with a meaningful message "East and West can and always will meet no matter what" and an even more important one albeit more personal than political "love conquers all" cliched as it may be;

And all told in his fabulous style that i label the "renaissance style of history-narration" charaterised by objective observation(based in reason and fact) yet madly romantic.... I loved this book and hope - very selfishly - that Mr. Dalrymple will continue to produce such enlightening and enthralling work for decades to come.

Richard Lannoy's "Benaras Seen from Within" is a passionately insightful spiritual/aesthetic inquiry on the holy city of Kashi (Benaras). It is more a work of ardent love than a work of curiosity. It is more a work of the seeking spirit than a work of art. Teeming with the elusive cosmic energy that has pervaded the city of Kashi since times immemorial, his photographs and his insightful writings in this book are testament to his seeking soul, his acute eye and his brilliant mind that have fueled the creation of this monumental body of work.

Inspite of several scholarly and scientific studies undertaken of this holy city, Mr. Lannoy's work stands out as a unique and exhaustive seeking of its kind. For one, it is the result of a passionate dedication of a lifetime of love, energy and effort by this acclaimed Indologist. (It has taken him about five decades to accomplish this work). Being a trained artist, a scholar and a deeply insightful writer, his love for the country of India and his sincere reverence for the city of Kashi have all contributed effectively to create this spiritually rich and inwardly seeking work. His lengthy span of over five decades to research and document this book has been a boon to reflect on the ever-changing yet never-changing cosmic landscape of Kashi. (This is paramount to the unique quality of this work). Besides, it takes a deeply dedicated and spiritually aware soul to see through the distracting and distorted layers of the teeming microcosmic city of Benaras and to reveal the transcendental cosmic city of Kashi. It is amply clear through this book that Mr. Lannoy seems to be all that in addition to being a master photographer.

Through the lens, he has succeeded in capturing the elusively spiritual; the hauntingly mythic. (This, I think, is the most difficult and worthy achievement of a photographer.) His works in entirety are wrapped around this theme and are reflected all over in secret cues. His visual vocabulary effuses the language of the mysterious and taunts the viewer to search his pictures. Like Henri Cartier Bresson, he is the master of the moment, but very unlike Bresson, he is concerned with the spiritual exuberance of the picture than the merely aesthetic. His pictures are more felt than seen. Some of his successes enjoy a brilliant quality of aesthetic, insightful and the inwardly. Mr. Lannoy is also kind and reverent to the subject of his study. In his pictures, he seeks for deeper moments with the grace and expectancy of an earnest and seeking student. Pictures of the people and the abundant petite bourgeoisie are not pictures of the materially poor, but the spiritually rich. Some of his captured moments are events of everyday life : ceremonies, ablutions, prayers, journeys....yet moments that celebrate metaphysical insight and inquiry.

Through his pen, he offers a penetrative and insightful documentation on the holy city of Benaras. Steeped in myth, religion and spirituality; Benaras is one of the last remaining living ancient cities where visitors, pilgrims and scholars throng; attracted by the enigmatic energy that radiates in this place. As a peculiar convergence between the present and the past, the sacred and the profane, this pervading dichotomy of sorts presents a very unique challenge to the inquirer and Mr. Lannoy acknowledges this very nature by interspersing his works between words and pictures. In a sense, what cannot be conveyed with words is reflected within his pictures and what fails to be seen is written with acuity and ardor. With this hard earned creation of a lifetime, he seems to have collected the ripest and the most mystically beautiful fruit from the sacred tree of Kashi.

Mr. Lannoy's book is a seminal and masterly work of an artist and intellect in search of the soul of a cosmic city. In many ways, his works are reminiscent of the scholarly undertakings of the pioneer Indian art historian and original thinker Mr. Ananda Coomaraswamy. Like him, Mr. Lannoy is intuitively gifted in his ability to grasp the metaphysical leanings of his subject and writes with a passion and an inwardly conviction that years of patient seeking and searching have granted him.

I highly recommend this book for any student of artistic and philosophical seeking. For those in proximity to New York City, there is an exhibition of his works on display till the 8th of April 2000 at Sepia International Inc. Galley, 148, W 24 Street, 11 Floor, NY.

-Lokesh Muthuramalingam, February 25 2000, lmuthura@att.com

This landmark book is a life's work and sings a soul song of one of the most deeply beloved spiritual places, a place where religious life is still the center.

Lannoy's photographs have all too rarely been published, and this book would be a visual feast if only for the chance to see a master photographer at work, composing foreground and background moments simultaneously so that they breathe life and a story in a complete message.

The text is also the best piece of writing about Benares that I've read. So many books describe only the obvious and most prurient sites of Benares (the burning ghats, the naga babas) and miss the true depth and richness of the city. From this text and photographs, the reader looks at the numerous facets of this multilayered city.

I, too, must confess to having met and now knowing Richard Lannoy, as a fellow traveler in Benares, where I had the extreme good fortune to meet him and to accompany him on photographic jaunts throughout the city and its outskirts.

His running dialog about things Benarsi is a gift of the gods...For anyone who is interested in India, I would say this is the first and best book you should buy. You can learn more about the country, and a great city, from this book. An incomparable experience and hours of absorbing reading and looking...

This huge book about India's most holy city has two parts, either of which would be worth the journey through its beautifully produced pages. In the first, hundreds of photographs are cunningly arranged to lead us into the ancient, wonderful city where the Buddha first began his mission. The images take us along lanes and ways, up to rooftops, among pressing crowds, and down to the sacred ghats by the River Ganges; where Hindus have gone for millennia to cleanse their sins and burn their dead. In the second part, we get a lively description of the inner life of Benares--and by extension, all of India. This book should be read by anyone interested in Hindu art and religion, but also by city planners and would-be travelers.

Remarkably, the book spans over 40 years of thought and effort by Lannoy-- with a great caesura between the early 60's and the present. How this happened is that Lannoy began his project in the early 50's and worked at it for over 10 years during extended residences in the city. Then he struggled to find a publisher who would take the risk of printing so many rich photographs. Struggled and failed, and the photos crossed the oceans several times in steamer trunks, before finally coming sadly to rest. Until 1998, when the old sage, painter, and author of other books that are scholarly classics at last turns his eye again to this troublesome love of his youth. Now he takes up his camera for the first time in years and, armed with new possibilities for small press runs, returns to Benares for fresh photography, contracts a Hong Kong printer, works furiously, takes a huge financial risk, and at long last publishes this unique masterpiece, on his own, exactly as he wants it.

The fifties, for Americans anyway, are remembered as a time of great cultural certainty. We recall images--often in black and white--of an uncluttered land, at once carefree and supremely purposeful. India, we learn through these photographs, had a golden age of its own in this same era. But while America's purpose was transcendent materialism, Indians, newly independent, could at last strive for spiritual fulfillment in their own land. We sense this confidence, somehow, in the pictures and Lannoy is at pains to point out their psychological portent. It is as if he were an art critic analyzing the imagery Indians create by assembling, unselfconsciously, for their rituals and pageants--imagery which he is skillful enough to capture. For example, I might not have perceived the spiritual melding in crowds assembled for ritual bathing without the convincing captions Lannoy provides. Nor would I have seen the change wrought between the 50's and the present, when crowds have lost their unity of belief and become mere collections of individuals.

"Benares Seen From Within" works as a coffee table book. Many of the pictures are conventionally gorgeous and certainly exotic. But the collection is much, much more. Photographs are grouped, according to subject, in a more or less straightforward way. But within the groupings are subtle structures and by-plays with the captioning. For example, in one section shows a series of contact prints (miniature photographs are used to effect in several places). They show a mural painter drawing a devotional subject while a sahdu (holy man) regales a group of followers with a parable. At the climax of the story, the caption informs us, the muralist draws the pupil of the eye-the moment the image gains a soul. "Oh" one thinks and turns the page. There is a charming picture of the river side and a veranda. Turn another page and pow! A sahdu leans forward with burning eyes and points right into the lens. This moment, one realizes after paging back, was the climax of the story. Elsewhere, Lannoy describes the excitement and difficulty of photographing the Naga Baba, but without saying exactly what the Naga Baba are exactly. For this, and much more, we have to delve into the pages ourselves.

Earlier books by the Lannoy (Speaking Tree, The Eye of Love) have established his credentials as a scholar of Indian art and culture. Here, we get a more personal statement, informed by the passage of time, and insightful of the disturbing changes underway. The text is rich and lively-and illustrated with additional photographs. Where the detail is overmuch for a first reading, the layout allows one to skip ahead; and meticulous indexing refers one to the photographs for fresh examination. It is rare to get a book of photographs that contains such easy scholarship and it is even more unusual to get art and religious history enlivened with photographs that are art in their own right.

For all the pleasure, we are never far from a grim sense that Benares is under threat. Due to pollution, the Ganges is now extremely unsafe for even the most stalwart bathers. Urban blight and traffic has savaged the ancient city plan. Lannoy looks at this unflinchingly. Indeed the photography often acts as a time-series showing decay and loss.

At this point, I should confess that I have known Richard Lannoy for many years-since he was my tutor at college in England over 20 years ago. I can recall him showing us students some of the photographs now published. Tarot-like, he would deal pictures out onto a cloth laid on the floor, intone on their meaning, then whisk them away for a fresh set. They created a spell then that still enchants. In the truest way, this book is a gift from Richard-a giving back and a sharing about a place at once loved and mourned. Lucky us that he was able finally to not only show the beauty of Benares, but sound an alarm for the future.

Fantastic collection of short stories about Sikh women throughout the century and living around the world. Some of the best stories I've read about women and their need to follow honour,but also the anger and confusion this causes in a rapidly changing world. Very moving fiction. All the stories are told with excellent subtlety. A very strong recommendation for a relatively new writer of short fiction.

Probably one of the best pieces of fiction I have ever read. In fact, I asked my friends not to give me another book until it matched Singh Baldwin's quality.

The narrative and characters remain with me two years later. What more can a reader ask for?

This book is a wonderful account of the Indian (predominatly Punjabi) immigrant experience in America and Canada. The author's lyrical prose brings the reader into each character's life on an intimate level, rather than making the reader feel like a casual observer. Although most of the short stories are told from a female's point of view, readers across the board will be drawn in by the author's in depth afinity for character evolvment. The short story, Montreal, 1962, is the highlight of the collection, with it's tearful account of a Punjabi housewife's ability to see beyond the symbolism of her Sikh husband's turban.

Great heroic story! Fascinating records of army and air operations over the treacherous terrain of the Afghan border. Shortly after the war, a pilot fights to keep his flying carrer with his appeals to King George VI! Does he win his? I'll save that for you!

This account of army and air operations over the Afghan border in the last days of British rule in India will intrigue a wide audience, from those interested in books on early plane and biplane flight to readers of military accounts. The author joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot in 1937, two years before World War II: his experiences in an antique plane provides a fine account of his adventures and close encounters.

I could not put this book down. What I found remarkable about FLYING BLIND is that Geoffrey Morley-Mower has already written one of the most engaging and insightful memoirs of any veteran of the Second World War, MESSERSCHMITT ROULETTE. Yet FLYING BLIND is, in many ways, an even more satisfying book. Here, in the second volume of his memoirs, we meet the man and the pilot on the cusp of living his dream: flying for the RAF on the distant edge of the British Raj. Morley-Mower's self-deprecatory wit, his elegant and understated prose, and his gift for narrative sustain FLYING BLIND with a verve rarely found in fiction, much less in military biographies. The men who fought the good fight in the Second World War are fading from us, but this book reminds us of their honor, valor, and above all, their humanity, in ways that few other books have. Geoffrey Morley-Mower's second volume of his memoirs, like the first, is reminiscent of William Manchester's outstanding remembrance of serving in the U.S. Marine infantry in the Second World War, GOODBYE DARKNESS. Like Manchester, Morley-Mower has no room for bombast and plenty of room for reflective, highly-charged prose. FLYING BLIND is a must-read for anyone interested in great writing. For military scholars, it is a jewel, as so few of the iron-backboned RAF heroes are still alive. Thank God Geoffrey Morley-Mower wrote this book, bless him. And, as Hemingway once said, good books never suffer in the re-reading. FLYING BLIND is richer in the re-reading. Enjoy.

It is hard to believe that these beautiful pictures exist, they are such a superb window on to a world we know so little about. I expecially liked the informative captions that locate the photographs contextually and historically. As far as I know, there is nothing like it available on old India photography.

Such a literate, well-written photography book I have not seen before. Beautiful images that tell the story of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir during the 19th century. An excellent selection of pictures, told like a story.

I was so surprised to see such lovely pictures of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including places I grew up in like Lahore and Murree. The narrative is really interesting, and tells so much about the history that I did not know or realize. The photographs are truly amazing.

Ali and Ripley's masterwork cannot be touched in terms of the completeness of individual descriptions, but this volume is amazing in that it draws together all the subcontinent's spp. into one book. Even so, the tome is too heavy to carry to the field. The taxonomy is updated, as is the species list. The colour illustrations are of a very high quality; my quibble is that the individual species are too small to be very useful. The maps are miniscule and that limits their utility; the use of two colours would have helped under the circumstances. Otherwise, this book is a long-awaited treasure.

Simply the best available guide to the birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Subcontinental birders have long awaited a comphrehensive guide to the birds of this region.

No other guide comes close in quality of drawings, text and range maps. Though too large and heavy to be called a field guide. It is still brought on trips to be reviewed after a day in the field.

We eagerly await the publication of this book as a true 'field guide'- that will be useable in the field.

This is the best one-volume book on the market at this time. It has very good illustrations and good species accounts that include excellent range maps. It is the only book of one volume that covers all the birds of the Indian subcontinent with this quality of illustration. The range maps are very good and there is an adequate amount of information about each bird. It's too heavy to take into the field on your trip to India, but it is an excellent reference.

I have owned the first edition for over 22 years now. It is the most used volume in my personal library during the last two decades. So comprehensive, so well designed.

I bought an early edition of this book, and it has been with me constantly. It remains one of the few indispensable works on South Asia, a truly unique one-volume resource. Many developments in South Asia have their roots in the recent and not so recent past, this provides as good a base to work from as anything I have ever come across. The price of the reprint (assuming the quality of the plates is as good as the original) is inexpensive, even for an individual, given the comprehensive scope of the Atlas.

At the book's price, it is designed for academic reference but for any reader seriously interested in South Asia it contains a lifetime's worth of historical information. Dynasties, monuments, sacred sites, princely states, battles, invasions, photos of sculpture and archaeological finds, etc. One of the most continually fascinating books I've ever seen.