{"product_id":"beautiful-and-the-damned-siddhartha-deb-9780865478732","title":"Beautiful and the Damned","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Beautiful and the Damned\u003c\/i\u003e presents an affecting, incisive portrait of the vast, fascinating, and incongruent country that is globalized India.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSiddhartha Deb grew up in a remote town in the northeastern hills of India and made his way to the United States via a fellowship at Columbia. Six years after leaving home, he returned as an undercover reporter for \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, working at a call center in Delhi in 2004, a time when globalization was fast proceeding and Thomas L. Friedman declared the world flat. Deb's experience interviewing the call-center staff led him to undertake this book and travel throughout the subcontinent. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Beautiful and the Damned \u003c\/i\u003eexamines India's many contradictions through various individual and extraordinary perspectives. With lyrical and commanding prose, Deb introduces the reader to an unforgettable group of Indians, including a Gatsby-like mogul in Delhi whose hobby is producing big-budget gangster films that no one sees; a wiry, dusty farmer named Gopeti whose village is plagued by suicides and was the epicenter of a riot; and a sad-eyed waitress named Esther who has set aside her dual degrees in biochemistry and botany to serve Coca-Cola to arms dealers at an upscale hotel called Shangri La. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLike no other writer, Deb humanizes the post-globalization experience--its advantages, failures, and absurdities. India is a country where you take a nap and someone has stolen your job, where you buy a BMW but still have to idle for cows crossing your path. A personal, narrative work of journalism and cultural analysis in the same vein as Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's \u003ci\u003eRandom Family \u003c\/i\u003eand V. S. Naipaul's India series, \u003ci\u003eThe Beautiful and the Damned \u003c\/i\u003eis an important and incisive work. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e Best Nonfiction Book\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eGlobe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e Best Books of the Year\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Siddhartha Deb\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0865478732\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780865478732\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Farrar, Strauss \u0026amp; Giroux-3pl\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/18\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.20h x 5.50w x 0.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/07\/2012 pg. 32","brand":"Siddhartha Deb","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43992530518271,"sku":"9780865478732","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_d6195626-491e-454d-adbf-898a6e4819c1.jpg?v=1683319446","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/beautiful-and-the-damned-siddhartha-deb-9780865478732","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}