Twilight Prisoners, Siddhartha Deb
Twilight Prisoners, Siddhartha Deb
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Twilight Prisoners
The Rise of the Hindu Right and the Fall of India

Author: Siddhartha Deb

Narrator: Shawn K. Jain

Unabridged: 6 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/18/2024


Synopsis

An incisive, lyrical, and deeply reported account of India's descent into authoritarianism.

Traveling across India, interviewing Hindu zealots, armed insurgents, jailed dissidents, and politicians and thinkers from across the political spectrum, Siddhartha Deb reveals a country in which forces old and new have aligned to endanger democracy. The result is an absorbing—and disturbing—portrait. India has become a religious fundamentalist dystopia, one depicted here with a novelist's precise language and eye for detail.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party—a formation explicitly drawing on European fascism—has deftly exploited modern technologies, the media, and market forces to launch a relentless campaign on minorities, women, dissenters, and the poor. Deb profiles these people, as well as those fighting back, including writers, scholars, and journalists. Twilight Prisoners sounds the alarm now that the world's largest democracy is under threat in ways that echo the fissures in the United States, United Kingdom, and so-called democracies the world over.

About Siddhartha Deb

Born in Shillong, India, Siddhartha Deb lives in Harlem, New York. His fiction and nonfiction have been longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, shortlisted for the Orwell Prize, and been awarded the Pen Open Prize. His journalism and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Guardian, New Republic, Baffler, n+1, Dissent, and Caravan.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kartik on July 08, 2024

There are a few books on the ascent of Hindutva in India, but each one is equally important, and currently exists in a fledgling list that needs to be read like our lives depend on it. Because they do. Phenomenal prose, genius research and a book that leaves you with hope and courage, despite the des......more

Goodreads review by Lynn on February 21, 2025

An Important Look At Modi’s India The Hindu Right is steadily disenfranchising Muslims in India, taking away their rights to vote and even their citizenship. They imprison and assassinate dissidents and two states are under the equivalent of military rule. This is a good introduction to Modi and the......more

Goodreads review by Rupande on June 08, 2024

Absolutely brilliantly written! Shows the alarming rise of the Hindu right & how they’re bending the country to their will. Would love an update to it based on the 2024 elections.......more

Goodreads review by giovi on April 03, 2025

so so well done. everyone should read this. the kafkaesque state of modi's hindutva india needs to be confronted. "an awareness that lives, religious as well as secular, are built in part on fantasy."......more

Goodreads review by kathryn donovan on September 10, 2024

Each chapter probably could have been its own book. I felt like I was introduced to a vastly complicated idea / situation and then moved right on to a different one. I love Siddhartha Deb's style of writing and his complex sentence structure. However, to be honest, he introduced too much novel (for......more