An ambitious--in fact, audacious--book. As far as I know, no one else has attempted such a wide-ranging analysis, and comparison, in depth of these two countries--which are not only the most populous countries in the world but among the most complex ones. I do not know anyone else today who would have either the temerity or the ability to make the kind of sophisticated, subtle, comparative analysis that Taylor does of these two great countries. If he had asked my opinion, before he started, on whether he should attempt to write such a book, I probably would have advised him not to attempt the impossible. But in my opinion he pulls it off successfully. In short, I think it is a real tour de force.
A. Doak Barnett, Johns Hopkins University
This stimulating work offers a broad comparison of Indian and Chinese societies and the factors that have shaped their approaches to modernization. It describes India historically as a conquest society and China as a siege society, and examines Chinese and Indian attitudes toward religion, art, sex, family life, authority, foreigners, and each other. A comparison is made of the current social dynamics in the two countries, including sections on the new maharajas and the new mandarins, and on the large poverty groups that continue to exist in both countries.