In sixteen linked essays, Nobel Prize--winning economist Amartya Sen discusses India's intellectual and political heritage and how its argumentative tradition is vital for the success of its democracy and secular politics. The Argumentative Indian is "a bracing sweep through aspects of Indian history and culture, and a tempered analysis of the highly charged disputes surrounding these subjects--the nature of Hindu traditions, Indian identity, the country's huge social and economic disparities, and its current place in the world" (Sunil Khilnani, Financial Times, U.K.).
Chapter 1: The Argumentative Indian
Chapter 2: Inequality, Instability and Voice
Chapter 3: India: Large and Small
Chapter 4: The Diaspora and the World
Chapter 5: Tagore and His India
Chapter 6: Our Culture, Their Culture
Chapter 7: Indian Traditions and the Western Imagination
Chapter 12: India and the Bomb
Chapter 13: The Reach of Reason
Chapter 14: Secularism and Its Discontents
Chapter 15: India through Its Calendars
Chapter 16: The Indian Identity