The Age of Kali: Indian Travels & Encounters (Vintage Departures)

From the author of The Last Mughal and Nine Lives: the classic stories he gathered during the ten years he spent journeying across the Indian subcontinent, from Sri Lanka and southern India to the North West Frontier of Pakistan. As he searched for evidence of Kali Yug, the “age of darkness” predicted by an ancient Hindu cosmology in a final epoch of strife and corruption, Dalrymple encountered a region that thrilled and surprised him. Venturing to places rarely visited by foreigners, he presents compelling portraits of a diverse range of figures—from a Hindi rap megastar through the Tamil Tigers to the drug lords of Pakistan. Dalrymple's love for the subcontinent comes across in every page, which makes its chronicles of political corruption, ethnic violence and social disintegration all the more poignant. The result is a dark yet vibrant travelogue, and a unique look at a region that continues to be marked by rapid change and unlimited possibilities as it struggles to reconcile the forces of modernity and tradition.

• City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi
• Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (Vintage Departures)
• In Xanadu: A Quest
• The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857
• White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India
• Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42
• From the Holy Mountain: A Journey Among the Christians of the Middle East
• Twilight in Delhi (New Directions Paperbook)
• Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found
• Lonely Planet India (Travel Guide)