On the racks
Hisila
Author : Hisila Yami
Publisher : Penguin Random House India
Pages : 384; ₹499
Hisila Yami in her political memoir writes about her life as a Nepali politician and an architect. She talks about being a young student activist in 1978 and recounts the 1990 uprising against the Panchayat regime, a partyless type of governance initiated by King Mahendra by sidelining the dominant Nepali Congress, which ruled Nepal from 1960–90. She was one of the prominent women leaders in that political uprising. The book gives insight into her personal life from her marriage to a fellow architect and politician, Baburam Bhattarai, who went on to become Nepali PM to her struggles as a mother and a politician. She also recalls her student years in Delhi studying architecture and then becoming the president of the All-Nepal Women’s Association. Her arrest for her anti-monarchy stance and how she went underground in 1996 during the People’s War in Nepal were narrated in an interesting manner. She became a politburo member of the CPN (Maoist) which was also nicely captured in crisp words.
Inside Money
Author : Zachary Karabell
Publisher : Penguin Press
Pages :448; ₹2,562
A walk through the history of the private investment firm Brown Brothers Harriman, this book explores its central role in American wealth creation and the rise of US as a global power. Historian Karabell digs deep into and examines the long history of this financial services firm in a political context. He reveals some uncomfortable truths of the intertwined firm, such as its deep involvement in the cotton economy in southern America that implies that the firm may have supported slavery in the past. The book also gives insight into the leadership of Alexander Brown, who set up the first investment bank in the US, by joining hands with his sons at the Alex Brown and Sons Inc. This company endured wars, banking panics and stock market crashes over decades. The book offers an interesting account of the firm’s big push into advisory, wealth management, commercial banking, and investor services for corporates and high net worth clients.
What Happened to You?
Author : Bruce D Perry and Oprah Winfrey
Publisher : Flatiron Books
Pages : 304; ₹2,108
Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host and TV producer, along with Dr Bruce D Perry, American psychiatrist and senior fellow at the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas, analyses the effects of trauma on the brain. They discuss both the emotional and biological changes the trauma creates. Dr Perry explains how childhood trauma can profoundly affect an adult’s life. The book alternates between sections written by Oprah, as she recalls events from her life, and Perry who uses anecdotes from his practice to explain concepts about the brain’s response to trauma in a conversational tone. There are discussions on drug addiction and how people use artificial means to restore some sense of balance in their lives. In other chapters they discuss love, identifying trauma and the healing process.
