Will India Win?

More From This Issue

Table of Contents

Essays

Rahul Gandhi, grandson of Indira Gandhi and possible next Prime Minister of India, visits the Maldives. Photo by Maldives Presidency via Flickr

Its political class may not be up to the task of leading India toward prosperity.

Sadanand Dhume

Propelled by economic success and a sense of its own exceptionalism, India stands poised to create a new role for itself on the world stage. But Indians do not agree on what that role should be.

Michael Kugelman

India’s leaders have instinctively looked to China for the secrets to national success. The impulse often serves them poorly.

Xuefei Ren

These are hard times for those who live by the pen. But technology will not decide their fate. The future of writers—and the articles, novels, and nonfiction books they create—ultimately rests with those who read them.

Edward Tenner

During World War II, villagers in a French farming community rescued thousands of Jews and other refugees, while most Europeans spectacularly failed to hinder the genocides in their midst. What set the villagers apart?

Margaret Paxson

In Essence

THE SOURCE: “Mixed Messages on Targeted Killings” by Charles G. Kels, in Armed Forces Journal, July–Aug. 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Tocqueville and America” by James Q. Wilson, in The Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Candidates Matter: Policy and Quality Differences in Congressional Elections” by Matthew K. Buttice and Walter J. Stone, in The Journal of Politics, July 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Is U.S. Economic Growth Over? Faltering Innovation Confronts the Six Headwinds” by Robert J. Gordon, in NBER Working Papers, Aug. 2012.

THE SOURCE: “The Effects of Fiscal Stimulus: Evidence From the 2009 Cash for Clunkers Program” by Atif Mian and Amir Sufi, in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Aug. 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Environmental Alarmism, Then and Now” by Bjorn Lomborg, in Foreign Affairs, July–Aug. 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Black and White No Longer” by Richard Thompson Ford, in The American Interest, Sept.–Oct. 2012.

THE SOURCE: “How Different Are the Adult Children of Parents Who Have Same-Sex Relationships? Findings From the New Family Structures Survey” by Mark Regnerus, in Social Science Research, July 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Identifying the Disadvantaged: Official Poverty, Consumption Poverty, and the New Supplemental Poverty Measure” by Bruce D. Meyer and James X. Sullivan, in Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2012.

THE SOURCE: “American Processed Kosher” by Jeffrey Yoskowitz, in Gastronomica, Summer 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Second Thoughts on Colonial Historians and American Indians” by James H. Merrell, in the William and Mary Quarterly , July 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Cash-and-Carry Aesthetics” by Jed Perl, in The Baffler, June 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Secret Harmony” by Kelly Grovier, in The Times Literary Supplement, June 8, 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Remembering H.M.” in Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Summer 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Shift Happens” by David Weinberger, in The Chronicle Review, April 22, 2012.

THE SOURCE: “An Autopsy of Managed Democracy” by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes, in Journal of Democracy, July 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Germany, by the Book” by Michael Naumann, in The Nation, June 18, 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Can Africa Industrialize?” by John Page, in Journal of African Economies (supplement), Jan. 2012.

THE SOURCE: “Crossing the 50 Percent Population Rubicon: Can China Urbanize to Prosperity?” by Kam Wing Chan, in Eurasian Geography and Economics, Jan.–Feb. 2012.

Book Reviews

Infinite Rest  Image

EVERY LOVE STORY IS A GHOST STORY:
A Life of David Foster Wallace.
By D. T. Max.
Viking. 356 pp. $27.95

Bloody New World  Image

THE BARBAROUS YEARS:
The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600–1675.
By Bernard Bailyn.
Knopf. 640 pp. $35

Failure to Lead  Image

THE GENERALS:
American Military Command From World War II to Today.
By Thomas E. Ricks.
Penguin Press. 576 pp. $32.95

Feeding the Masses  Image

ONE BILLION HUNGRY:
Can We Feed the World?
By Gordon Conway.
Cornell Univ. Press. 439 pp. $24.95