Book review
India is a large and very diverse country with many distinct pursuits, vastly different convictions, widely divergent customs, and a veritable feast of viewpoints. The Argumentative Indian brings together an illuminating selection of writings from Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen that outline the need to understand contemporary India in the light of its long argumentative tradition. The understanding and use of this rich argumentative tradition are critically important, Sen argues, for the success of India's democracy, the defence of its secular politics, the removal of inequalities related to class, caste, gender and community, and the pursuit of sub-continental peace.

About the author Professor Amartya Sen, our author in focus this month, is a world-renowned economist, scholar, philosopher and author whose books have been translated into more than thirty languages. Professor Sen has researched and written on a number of wide-ranging fields, including economics, philosophy, decision theory and social choice theory. Professor Sen�s latest book, The Argumentative Indian, one of the most eagerly awaited titles of the year, will be available in India from mid-July. Amartya Sen is Lamont University Professor at Harvard. He won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998 and was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge 1998-2004. His most recent books are Development as Freedom and Rationality as Freedom. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages.