Capital
A Portrait of Twenty-First Century Delhi
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Canongate Books
Publishing:12th Feb '26
£12.99
This title is due to be published on 12th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
WINNER OF THE WINDHAM CAMPBELL PRIZE 2025
WINNER OF THE PRIX ÉMILE GUIMET DE LITTÉRATURE ASIATIQUE 2017
WINNER OF THE RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI AWARD 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2015
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE ONDAATJE PRIZE 2015
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX DU MEILLEUR LIVRE ÉTRANGER 2016
In Capital, Rana Dasgupta reveals the new version of Delhi which erupted out of its economic boom in the 1990s. An unsparing look at the causes and consequences of globalisation, Capital is at once a history, a warning and a looking glass.
Slums and markets bulldozed or burnt down. Luxury shopping malls and apartment blocks erected in their place. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people from the rural hinterland streamed in, looking for work. The transformation of the city was stern, abrupt and unequal. Delhi brimmed with ambition and rage.
In this prescient account of the mayhem and disparity that would emerge from India's globalisation, Rana Dasgupta shows us a city's rebirth, for better and worse, through the eyes of its people. Capital is a book for our times.
Important . . . His lyrical encounters with a wide range of modern Delhiites reveal a novelist's ear and are beautifully sketched * * Telegraph * *
A beautifully written portrait of a corrupt, violent and traumatised city growing so fast it is almost unrecognisable to its own inhabitants. An astonishing tour de force by a major writer at the peak of his powers -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
A terrific portrait of Delhi right now and hits a lot of nails on the head -- SALMAN RUSHDIE
Lyrical and haunting * * International New York Times * *
Achingly beautiful . . . and cleverly tangential * * Financial Times * *
Intense, lyrical, erudite and powerful * * Observer * *
Dasgupta peels back the layers of denial with insight, humanity and beautiful writing. He exposes festering wounds buts succeeds in fascinating rather than repelling * * The Times * *
A remarkable and exhaustive account * * Independent * *
Personal, original and vivid * * New Internationalist * *
A remarkably elegant work whose rich style and sweep often brings to mind V S Naipaul's A Million Mutinies Now * * New Statesman * *
- Winner of Prix Émile Guimet de Littérature Asiatique 2017 (France)
- Winner of Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage 2017 (Poland)
- Short-listed for RSL Ondaatje Prize 2015 (UK)
- Short-listed for The Orwell Prize for Books 2015 (UK)
- Short-listed for Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger 2016 (France)
ISBN: 9781837263592
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
480 pages
Main - Canons