Twilight Prisoners

The Rise of the Hindu Right and the Fall of India

An incisive, lyrical, and deeply reported account of India's descent into authoritarianism.

Traveling across India, interviewing Hindu zealots, armed insurgents, jailed dissidents, and politicians and thinkers from across the political spectrum, Siddhartha Deb reveals a country in which forces old and new have aligned to endanger democracy. The result is an absorbing—and disturbing—portrait. India has become a religious fundamentalist dystopia, one depicted here with a novelist's precise language and eye for detail.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party—a formation explicitly drawing on European fascism—has deftly exploited modern technologies, the media, and market forces to launch a relentless campaign on minorities, women, dissenters, and the poor. Deb profiles these people, as well as those fighting back, including writers, scholars, and journalists. Twilight Prisoners sounds the alarm now that the world's largest democracy is under threat in ways that echo the fissures in the United States, United Kingdom, and so-called democracies the world over.

©2024 Siddhartha Deb (P)2024 Tantor

Excellent book

Intelligent and critical reporting on a state in crisis from a talented novelist and journalist

Phenomenal, brave.

This book needs to be read with a sense of urgency. Deb’s writing is concise, poignant and lyrical. Each chapter more hard hitting than the other, but I would pick this up for chapter one alone.