Bengaluru, Nov 16 (IANS): Stephen Alter's seminal book on the Himalayas and Jairam Ramesh's painstakingly researched biography of V.K. Krishna Menon are among the six books shortlisted for the Rs. 15 lakh Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize for non-fiction announced here on Monday, with the jury citing "the lucidity, strength and eloquence of the writers".
"The Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay prize short-list demonstrates the range and quality of non-fiction writing about modern India, from political biography to the sociology of politics, from investigative journalism to the history of ecology and of technology," the jury, chaired by political scientist and author Niraja Gopal Jayal said.
"Each book in the shortlist, nourishes a conscious and creative conversation, and we were struck by the lucidity, strength and eloquence of the writers. It covers a century of modern Indian history and encompasses several genres-biography and investigative reportage, environment histories, anthropology and history-as well as a variety of themes that blend the country's complex past to aspirations for the future," the jury said.
The other members of the jury were historian and critically acclaimed author Ramachandra Guha; entrepreneur and author Nandan Nilekani; historian and author Srinath Raghavan; historian and author Nayanjot Lahiri; and Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, Teamlease Services.
The following are the six books on the shortlist, whittled down from the 12 that made it to the longlist:
* A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon by Jairam Ramesh (Penguin Random House) : Based on new archival material, this a biography of a brilliant, multifaceted, complicated man, who worked relentlessly in Britain for India's freedom, who became a star in the United Nations in the 1950s; but whose public life came to a rather tragic end.
* Wild Himalaya: A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth by Stephen Alter (Aleph): The book weaves together the geology, geography, flora and fauna of the Himalayas, with the midst of folklore, the cultures of peoples that it sustains, through a journey across five countries, that this mountain range traverses. (The book won the Mountain Environment and Natural History Award at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival 2020 in Alberta, Canada, earlier this year).
* Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements by Amit Ahuja (Oxford University Press): The book is based on extensive field research and shows how Dalits gain more from participating in a social movement, and dividing their political support across parities rather than voting as a block for one ethnic party.
* Midnight's Machines: A Political History of Technology in India by Arun Mohan Sukumar (Penguin Random House): The book records the historically troubled relationship of India's political class with technology, showing how the ambivalence of India's leaders on the place of technology in society, inhibited India's technological advances.
* The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra by Arupjyoti Saikia (Oxford University Press): This is a deeply researched study of the river, from its hydrology and ecology, to its interaction with humans and non-humans, and the way in which it has determined the course of Assam's history.
* Bottle of Lies: Ranbaxy and the Dark Side of Indian Pharma by Katherine Eban (Juggernaut): A work of investigative journalism that tells a cautionary tale.
The final award will be announced in December.