Ahmedabad: a cautionary tale

Reviewed publication:
Spodek, H. 2011. Ahmedabad: Shock City of Twentieth Century India. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 320 pages. ISBN: 9780253355874 (hardback)

A city of extraordinary economic growth and innovation, horrendous communal violence and appalling poverty; Howard Spodek justifiably calls Ahmedabad a ‘shock city’ in his new book Ahmedabad: Shock City of Twentieth Century India. But the reason for its shocking nature does not lie in the demise of its enlightened, civic-minded elite. The roots of Ahmedabad’s shocking politics lies in the shocking lack of concern of this elite for the welfare of less privileged citizens.

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