Why am I passionate about this?

For over 44 years, I have been a writer, speaker, anchor, interviewer, teacher, analyst/commentator, publisher, producer, director, and consultant across different mass media: the written word, the spoken word, and the audio-visual medium – printed publications and websites, radio and podcasts, television, and documentary cinema. As a student of the political economy of India, I have sought to investigate the working of the nexus between business and politics. I am of the view that crony capitalism and oligarchy are at the roots of much that has gone wrong in the country of my birth and domicile which is often described as the “world’s largest democracy”.


I wrote

Gas Wars - Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis

By Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Subir Ghosh, Jyotirmoy Chaudhuri

Book cover of Gas Wars - Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis

What is my book about?

The Ambani siblings, among India’s richest men, fought over many issues, but what got lost in the din of the…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta Why did I love this book?

Surveillance Capitalism is a path-breaking work that highlights how a clutch of international digital monopolies are modifying our behaviour and predicting our preferences in a way in which human nature is threatened. The accumulation of vast wealth and the power that accompanies it enables a few corporate conglomerates to influence not only what we watch, hear and read but also anticipate our decisions and, in the process, are enabled to earn super-profits. This new era of capitalism is marked by extreme concentrations of information and knowledge with no democratic oversight, Professor Shoshana Zuboff convincingly argues. Her book may appear intimidating to some because of its size (nearly 700 pages) but is lucidly written and comprehensible for even a lay reader. 

By Shoshana Zuboff,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked The Age of Surveillance Capitalism as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Everyone needs to read this book as an act of digital self-defense.' -- Naomi Klein, Author of No Logo, the Shock Doctrine, This Changes Everything and No is Not Enough

The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control us.

The heady optimism of the Internet's early days is gone. Technologies that were meant to liberate us have deepened inequality and stoked divisions. Tech companies gather our information online and sell…


Book cover of The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta Why did I love this book?

American author Mark Twain had described the last decades of the 19th century as the Gilded Age in the United States, a period when on the surface everything appeared to be glittering like gold concealing the filth and ugliness that lay beneath. British journalist and academic James Crabtree, now based in Singapore, believes that the last few decades in India closely resembles the Gilded Age of the US. His 357-page book is filled with dozens of anecdotes about some of India’s most wealthy individuals such as Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, and Vijay Mallya. His meetings with them and his detailed descriptions of their lifestyles and demeanour make for racy reading. 

A disclaimer: Crabtree has described in flattering terms his meeting with this writer and referred to some of my articles and books.

By James Crabtree,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Billionaire Raj as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A colorful and revealing portrait of the rise of India’s new billionaire class in a radically unequal society

India is the world’s largest democracy, with more than one billion people and an economy expanding faster than China’s. But the rewards of this growth have been far from evenly shared, and the country’s top 1% now own nearly 60% of its wealth. In megacities like Mumbai, where half the population live in slums, the extraordinary riches of India’s new dynasties echo the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers of America's Gilded Age, funneling profits from huge conglomerates into lifestyles of conspicuous consumption.  

James Crabtree’s…


Book cover of A Feast of Vultures: The Hidden Business of Democracy in India

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta Why did I love this book?

This book describes in fascinating detail several episodes of crony capitalism in contemporary India. The author focuses on the intimate nexus between big business and politics that shapes economic policies and covertly funds elections, often to the detriment of the interests of underprivileged sections of society. Drawing on his experience as an investigative journalist, Josy Joseph delineates corporate rivalries, the activities of shady lobbyists and recounts financial scandals. A riveting read.

By Josy Joseph,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Feast of Vultures as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Every day, millions of people -- the rich, the poor and the many foreign visitors -- are hunting for ways to get their business done in modern India. If they search in the right places and offer the appropriate price, there is always a facilitator who can get the job done. This book is a sneak preview of those searches, the middlemen who do those jobs, and the many opportunities that the fast-growing economy offers.' Josy Joseph draws upon two decades as an investigative journalist to expose a problem so pervasive that we do not have the words to speak…


Book cover of Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta Why did I love this book?

This book paved the way for several other publications and reports that examine how tax havens are misused by rich individuals and corporate entities and private trusts and to legally avoid as well as to illegally evade taxes. The taxes not paid could have been used for supporting social welfare schemes and infrastructure projects that benefit ordinary people. In this manner, tax havens deepen and widen inequalities of income and wealth and concentrates economic power in the hands of crony capitalists.

Nicholas Shaxson’s book was of immense help to me when I wrote with Shinzani Jain a book titled Thin Dividing Line: India, Mauritius and Global Illicit Financial Flows published by Penguin Random House in December 2017.

Book cover of India: The Wasted Years

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta Why did I love this book?

This book is a series of essays that were originally blogs, written by a retired civil servant. These essays have been arranged not in a chronological sequence but under subject-heads, making them a cohesive commentary on the times we live in, in India, about which the author writes. While not a work of history, the book is instead the shout of a wounded civilisation. These essays will find place in the annals of India’s evolution through the 21st century. Uncompromising in his analysis, the author studiously cites the dark clouds of political, social, and economic failures, that seem to be without the proverbial silver lining. Disclosure: I am the publisher of this book.

By Avay Shukla,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked India as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

About the Book

India: The Wasted Years, is a series of essays that were originally blogs. These have been arranged not in a chronological sequence but under subject-heads, making them a cohesive commentary on the times we live in, in India, about which the author writes. While not a work of history, the book is instead the shout of a wounded civilisation. These essays will find place in the annals of India’s evolution through the 21st century. Uncompromising in his analysis, the author studiously cites the dark clouds of political, social and economic failures, that seem to be without the…


Explore my book 😀

Gas Wars - Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis

By Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Subir Ghosh, Jyotirmoy Chaudhuri

Book cover of Gas Wars - Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis

What is my book about?

The Ambani siblings, among India’s richest men, fought over many issues, but what got lost in the din of the battle-cries was that much of the tussle was over India’s natural resources, about how these were mined, marketed, and monetised. The book shows how the simmering controversy over the natural gas reserves in the Krishna-Godavari Basin boiled over into a storm on gas pricing involving many organisations of the government of India.

While many reasons have been attributed to the split in the powerful Indian business family, it is argued that the battle between the Ambani brothers was largely about wresting control over reserves of natural gas that are below the ocean bed along the basin of the two greatest rivers of southern India.

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Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

By Elizabeth Randall, William Randall,

Book cover of Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Elizabeth Randall Author Of Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

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Why am I passionate about this?

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What is my book about?

Tourists and local residents of St. Augustine will enjoy reading about the secret wonders of their ancient city that are right under their noses. Of course, that includes a few stray corpses and ghosts!

Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

By Elizabeth Randall, William Randall,

What is this book about?

It is no wonder the ancient city of St. Augustine is steeped in secrets.

St. Johns, the oldest continuously occupied county in America, celebrated its 450th birthday on September 4, 2015. More like a European enclave than an urban landscape, it is a place of cannon fire, street parties, historical reenactments, concerts, and more. From admiring replicas of fine art at Ripley’s Believe or Not, to hunting haunts in restaurants and museums, to eating ice cream from a recipe originated by World War II bombardiers, St. Augustine has it all from beaches, gourmet dining, festivals, and attractions.


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