Patrick French

The first major biography of V.S. Naipaul, the controversial and enigmatic Nobel a stunning writer whose only stated ambition was greatness, in pursuit of which goal nothing else was sacred.Beginning in rich detail in Trinidad, where Naipaul was born into an Indian family, Patrick French skillfully examines Naipaul’ s life within a displaced community and his fierce ambition at school. He describes how, on scholarship at Oxford, homesickness and depression struck with great force; the ways in which Naipaul’s first wife helped him to cope and their otherwise fraught marriage; and Naipaul’s struggles throughout subsequent uncertainties in England, including his twenty-five-year-long affair.Naipaul’s extraordinary gift—producing, uniquely, masterpieces of both fiction and nonfiction—is most of all born of a forceful, visionary impulse, whose roots French traces with a sympathetic brilliance and devastating insight.

A monumental biography of the subcontinent from the award-winning author of The World Is What It The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul .Second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle and second to none in its potential to shape the new century, India is fast undergoing one of the most momentous transformations the world has ever seen. In this dazzlingly panoramic book, Patrick French chronicles that epic change, telling human stories to explain a larger national narrative.Melding on-the-ground reports with a deep knowledge of history, French exposes the cultural foundations of India’s political, economic and social complexities. He reveals how a nation identified with some of the most wretched poverty on earth has simultaneously developed an envied culture of entrepreneurship (here are stories like that of C. K. Ranganathan, who trudged the streets of Cuddalore in the 1980s selling sample packets of shampoo and now employs more than one thousand people). And even more remarkably, French shows how, despite the ancient and persistent traditions of caste, as well as a mind-boggling number of ethnicities and languages, India has nevertheless managed to cohere, evolving into the world’s largest democracy, largely fulfilling Jawaharlal Nehru’s dream of a secular liberal order.French’s inquiry goes to the heart of all the puzzlements that modern India Is this country actually rich or poor? Why has its Muslim population, the second largest on earth, resisted radicalization to such a considerable extent? Why do so many children of Indians who have succeeded in the West want to return “home,” despite never having lived in India? Will India become a natural ally of the West, a geostrategic counterweight to the illiberal rising powers China and Russia? To find the answers, French seeks out an astonishing range of from Maoist revolutionaries to Mafia dons, from chained quarry laborers to self-made billionaires. And he delves into the personal lives of the political elite, including the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, one of the most powerful women in the world.With a familiarity and insight few Westerners could approach, Patrick French provides a vital corrective to the many outdated notions about a uniquely dynamic and consequential nation. His India is a thrilling revelation.

At different times in its history Tibet has been renowned for pacifism and martial prowess, enlightenment and cruelty.The Dalai Lama may be the only religious leader who can inspire the devotion of agnostics. Patrick French has been fascinated by Tibet since he was a teenager. He has read its history, agitated for its freedom, and risked arrest to travel through its remote interior. His love and knowledge inform every page of this learned, literate, and impassioned book.Talking with nomads and Buddhist nuns, exiles and collaborators, French portrays a nation demoralized by a half-century of Chinese occupation and forced to depend on the patronage of Western dilettantes. He demolishes many of the myths accruing to Tibet–including those centering around the radiant figure of the Dalai Lama. Combining the best of history, travel writing, and memoir, Tibet, Tibet is a work of extraordinary power and insight.

At midnight on August 14, 1947, Britain's 350-year-old Indian Empire cracked into three pieces. The greatest mass migration in history began, as Muslims fled north and Hindus fled south, over a million being massacred on the way. Britain's role as world power came to an end and the course of Asia's future was irrevocably set. Patrick French offers a reinterpretation of the events surrounding India's independence and partition, including the disastrous mistakes made by politicians and the bizarre reasoning behind many of their decisions. Exploring the interplay between characters such as Churchill, Mountbatten and Gandhi, it reveals a tale of idealism and manipulation, hope and tragedy. With sources ranging from newly declassified secret documents to the memories of refugees, Patrick French gives an account of an epic debacle, the impact of which reverberates across Asia to this day.

Sir Francis Younghusband was the last of the great imperialists—a dashing adventurer, who in 1903 single-handedly invaded Tibet, wiped out its entire army, and then became a mystic. Admired by H.G Wells and Bertrand Russell, he launched early assaults on Mt. Everest, held the world record for the 300-yard dash, was the first European since Marco Polo to travel from Peking to Central Asia, discovered the source of the Indus, and, as a spy, his presumed death nearly sparked an Indo-Russian war. The quest to discover this man led Patrick French from the Himalayas to Kashmir and into Tibet in search of clues.

How far would you go for redemption. What some would call a lifetime ago, two entities descended from the sky.They grew up with a very close connection but never really understanding why.Life went on as normal, they grew up and began to lead different lives. Pete got married, began a family, and Michael grew a habit instead.After a dreadful accident, unintentionally caused by Michael, Pete’s wife Rebecca and child David died.Pete went on for a while but could not bear the pain and decided to end his own life. Pete’s soul was sent to the depths of hell.Michael made a decision to rectify the wrong that he had done.After stealing here and there, and after consulting with the local witch doctor and a short trip to the afterlife, he decided to speed things up.Michael decided on the action he was going to take, and along with a few colleagues Craig, Andy, his ex drug dealer Wiley and old flame Nicole, the decent toward Michael’s redemption would begin.

Om middernacht op 14 augustus 1947 viel het Indiase deel van het Britse Rijk uit elkaar. Een imperium dat 350 jaar had standgehouden verdween in één klap en de grootste massamigratie in de geschiedenis kwam op gang. De moslimbevolking vluchtte naar het noorden, de Hindi van Noord-India naar het zuiden, meer dan een miljoen mensen werden afgeslacht. De koers van de toekomst van Azië werd onherroepelijk bepaald.In dit standaardwerk geeft Patrick French een verrassend nieuwe kijk op de chaotische laatste jaren van het koloniale regime in India. De vrijheid of de dood – de strijdkreet van de Indiase vrijheidsstrijders – is een meeslepend verhaal vol intriges, gemiste kansen, hoop en tragedie.Patrick French studeerde literatuurwetenschap aan de universiteit van Edinburgh. Voor eerder werk ontving hij de Somerset Maugham Award, de Heinemann Prize van de Royal Society of Literature en de Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Eerder verschenen Naar Tibet, V.S. Naipaul. Een biografie en India. Een persoonlijke biografie van 1,2 miljard mensen.