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V. S. Naipaul
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India: A Million Mutinies Now Hardcover – January 1, 1991

by V. S. Naipaul (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 185 ratings
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In 1964 V.S. Naipaul published "An Area of Darkness", his semi-autobiographical account of a year in India. Two visits later, prompted by the Emergency of 1975, he came to write "India: A Wounded Civilization", in which he casts a more analytical eye over Indian attitudes. In this work, he recapitulates and further investigates the feelings that the vast, mysterious and agonised continent has previously aroused in him.
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  1. Print length
    521 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Viking
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1991
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.69 x 9.41 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0670837024
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0670837021
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Trinidadian journalist-novelist Naipaul stresses that much has changed since his 1962 trip to India, which yielded his darkly pessimistic book India: A Wounded Civilization. In this kaleidoscopic, layered travelogue, he portrays "a country of a million little mutinies," reeling with "rage and revolt," as percolating ideas of freedom shake loose the old moral ethos rooted in caste and class. Despite what he terms regional, religious and sectarian excesses, Naipaul sees possibilities for regeneration in the new freedoms, yet this skewed essay is fraught with bewilderment and sorrow as he reels off a familiar litany of problems--terrible poverty, shoddy manufactured goods, ugly neo-modern architecture, etc.--and comes to terms with his own past: his ancestors were indentured servants of Indian descent. Most interesting here are the dozens of first-person stories by Indians themselves, ranging from a wealthy young stockbroker to anti-religionists to a publisher of women's magazines. 50,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This book by the Trinidad-born Indian author of A Turn in the South ( LJ 3/1/89) elicits pity, anger, disgust, and a sense of betrayal at India's development since Independence. It tells of an India gone wrong, filled with economic and political corruption. Violence between conflicting religions and a greedy society obsessed with self-interest has smashed the idealism and hope of Nehru's developing secular India. Unfortunately, Naipaul concentrates on urban life, interviewing business, religious, and mob leaders in Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, and Delhi while ignoring the rural villages where the majority of India's people live. The result is an unfocused work of social-political commentary that is fine for public libraries but adds nothing new to more specialized collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/90-- John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking (January 1, 1991)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 521 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0670837024
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670837021
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.69 x 9.41 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 185 ratings

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V. S. Naipaul

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
185 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Phil in Magnolia
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good overview of modern India
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2011
Verified Purchase
The country of India is of sufficient importance to all of us today that there is a real need for resources to help us develop a greater understanding, whether we are a traveler, business person working with India, or simply one interested in becoming more informed, such as myself. I don't expect that to be accomplished by only one book, so the challenge is to select a couple of volumes which together can do the job. For myself, this book is one that I have selected to help my own understanding of India.

India: A Million Mutinies Now was originally published in 1990, and this edition brings it back into availability, with a new preface by the author. It is the third volume of a trilogy written by Naipaul on India, the first two being  An Area of Darkness , and  India: A Wounded Civilization . It does date back 20 years, and for that reason does not take into account the many developments and changes in India since that time, so if you must have something that reflects today's India in all respects, this may fall short in some ways.

Author V. S. Naipaul (2001 Nobel Prize in Literature) is acclaimed both for his fiction and non-fiction. He was born in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago, to parents of Indian descent. In this book, he describes India through a series of stories covering people from many castes and different backgrounds. As these various individuals stories are told, and as you begin to grasp how they deal with the day-to-day problems of living in an overcrouded country, and surviving within the caste system still in place, you find that your understanding of India is beginning to come together. It is a long book (500+ pages), full of interesting vignettes and covering a very wide variety of individuals from all walks of Indian life.

If you are considering purchase of this book, then I would also refer you to the Amazon comments to the earlier 1990 edition ( India: A Million Mutinies Now ), which remain valid for this new printing. As alternates or supplements to this book, I would also suggest  India: A Portrait , recently issued, and I am sure that there are many others. I will continue to add to this review if I do come across other books that I feel should also be mentioned.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Very good but not as good as Area of Darkness
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 1999
V S Naipaul is one of the best writers that I have known. However being of Asian origin , I feel that he has a tendency to 'look down' on his ancestry. HEY Mr Naipaul ! If You're listening or come across this web page...take note..u have an INdian name and u look like an indian..be proud of it !
2 people found this helpful
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J. Marren
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for travelers
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2003
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Nobel prize winner V.S. Naipaul's masterpiece on India is a must-read for any Westerner seeking a deeper understanding of India. Naipaul tells the story of this incredibly complex country person by person, through in-depth interviews of his subjects not on politics, culture or religion but on their personal lives. Naipaul tells the stories of a wide range of characters--a secretary to a prominent businessman, members of the Bombay underworld, a Marxist rebel. He tells the story of Amir, the descendant of the Raja of Mahmudabad, now living in the palace his ancestors had gotten from the British, lost after Partition, and regained after he became a successful Muslim politician in a Hindu area. And the story of Kakusthan, a modern man who returned to tradition and the life of a pure Brahmin, in a ghetto surrounded by a Muslim neighborhood. And the story of Ashok, who rejected an arranged marriage, managed to break into marketing as a career, and now struggled with the decline of the genteel, Anglo business world he had grown up in. Naipaul's great talent is in ferreting out the details of everyday life--what his people ate, wore, above all where they lived--often in tiny 10' by 10' rooms with wife and children. One comes away with a great appreciation of the notion of caste, so embedded in the society and culture for religious and non-religious alike. One also begins to appreciate what a struggle life in India is for everyone, especially those who live in cities. This book is full of stories of struggle--against tradition, to preserve tradition, between castes, between Hindu and Muslim--and of more down to earth struggles--to find a job, to find housing, to choose a career. Unfortunately Naipaul wasn't able to interview women with the ease he interviewed men--not surprising in this traditional society--and women appear only as shadowy wives and mothers in the narrative. But a great book nevertheless.
21 people found this helpful
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Nancy Shinno
5.0 out of 5 stars Going to India
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2012
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I read this book before going to India. It was very helpful, especially trying to understand all of the group interactions, religious points of view and government corruptions. Probably being written by an ethnically Indian person, but one who had not grown up in India gave more insights for an outsider.
2 people found this helpful
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Albert V. lesley
5.0 out of 5 stars Arrived in good condition and swiftly
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2015
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Another book by Naipaul - who is ever critical of India and her people. Read it page by page, as his insights are important, as he seeks truth... Arrived in good condition and swiftly. Thank you.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amit Dixit
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book by a Wonderful Author!
Reviewed in India on December 25, 2021
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I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Not even for a single instance I found it boring. Right from the beginning it catches your attention and keeps it till the end. The India which I never knew I came to know about through this book. A must read for all serious Indian thinkers.
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A.R.
5.0 out of 5 stars Word of mouth
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2002
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"India" describes Naipaul's anti-clockwise journey around the metropoles of India in 1988, from Bombay to Srinagar via Bangalore, Madras, Calcutta, Delhi and Amritsar. His theme is that India, seen from the distance of his Trinadadian childhood, appeared as a single, unified entity. Close-up in 1988, however, he saw how it decomposes into a collage of religions, castes and classes. That diversity, for Naipaul, is India's strength. He sees each social group's struggle for security as the motor of India economic, political and social advances since the 1960s.
Reading between the lines, however, you can tell that Naipaul has mixed feelings about India. Apart from the revulsion at the filth and decay, he can not hide his despair of the Indian character. He sees Indians as self-destructive, always letting unnecessary foibles and squabbles obstruct progress. For Naipaul the class-warriors of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu have replaced a wise culture with a wasteland, the self-regarding idleness of Bengalis has turned Calcutta into a sewer and the Sikhs of Northwest India are persecuted because, deep down, that is their raison d'être.
It's a point of view.
The format of "India" is almost oral history or anthropology. He lets Indians, mostly middle- and upper-class, tell the stories of their lives. Gradually these tales coalesce in the reader's mind and Naipaul's collage of caste, class and ethnicity emerges. The language is clear and engaging; it is hard to imagine a more entertaining introduction to the social processes at work in modern India. Naipaul's own viewpoint emerges gradually between the lines. And he is honest about his own place in the book, not glamorising his trip with chichi exoticism like your average poncey travel-writer, but just making himself a man who travels from hotel to hotel and talks to Indians.
47 people found this helpful
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Madhav Tandan
5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful!
Reviewed in India on August 4, 2020
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By a writer at the height of his powers. I read this before the first book in the India trilogy, “An Area of Darkness”. Quite amazingly, his writing/narrative style didn’t change over a period of thirty years.
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JohnEurope
4.0 out of 5 stars Makes you think
Reviewed in Germany on January 7, 2008
Verified Purchase
India, A Million Mutinies Now was lent to me by a non-native English speaker who had found the book "heavy going" and could not get on with it. The start was also difficult for me but once I got going, it was fascinating.

Although I have been to India on a couple of business trips and have worked several years with many Indian people, I had no well founded idea about the country and its people.

Mr Naipaul, born in Trinidad of Indian origins, retails in this book, his experiences, and those of the people with whom he meets, in a detailed and enthralling way. His style is easy to read and transmitted to me the feeling that I was sometimes present at his "interviews". The enormous success that V.S. Naipaul has deservedly enjoyed over the years, enables him, during this India visit, to meet and speak with people whom the average visitor would not meet and to cover subjects which the average visitor would not consider. Mr Naipaul realises that and takes the time to give his reader the necessary insight.

This book can be strongly recommended as just a very good read but the information about India is an extra bonus.
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Y Maheshwary
4.0 out of 5 stars A must read!
Reviewed in India on March 10, 2019
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A perfect book to know India!
One person found this helpful
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