Byline
M.J. AKBAR
This book anthologizes M.J. Akbar’s finest writings over the last decade, bringing together essays that reflect his versatility and range. It is divided into six sections, each with their own identity, woven together by the author’s informal prose.
Hardback | 140 x 216mm (5.5 x 8.5") | 376 pp
ISBN 8174363173
Rs.295.00
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Byline anthologises M.J. Akbar’s finest writings over the last decade, bringing together essays that reflect the author’s versatility and range. The book is divided into five seamless sections, each with its own identity, woven together by M.J. Akbar’s delectably informal prose.
‘Travel’ is the first section in which the author shares his passion for history and the occasional fable, the obscure detail, the glorious and the ludicrous. This is followed by ‘Politics and History’ in which the reader is provided a view of some events and people in the recent past with all the quirks and whims that characterise the great as well as the mundane. The reader then moves on to ‘Sidelines’ (those delightfully off-centre pieces). M.J. Akbar says in an essay in this section: ‘The train of thought has moved. But that is the way with trains. They must travel.’
‘Memories’ is the most personal and autobiographical part of the entire selection, mixing regret, nostalgia and deeply felt sorrow for the friends and times gone forever.
Byline ends with a short section entitled ‘On a Personal Note’ in which James Bond must live to die another day, The Telegraph has to learn to live beyond the age of twenty and Dev Anand remains young forever.
About the author
M.J. Akbar belongs to the rare breed of journalists who have made a significant impact on Indian society by their writings as columnists and authors. Founder and editor-in-chief of India’s first global newspaper, The Asian Age, a multi-edition daily, he revolutionised Indian journalism in the Seventies and Eighties by successfully establishing the weekly magazine, Sunday and the daily newspaper, The Telegraph. He took a brief detour into politics with his election to the Indian Parliament in November 1989, but returned to his first passion, writing and editing, in 1993.
The books he has published have achieved great international acclaim: Riot after Riot; Nehru: The Making of India; India: The Siege Within and Kashmir: Behind the Vale. The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity was published in 2002 and a new edition with a new extended chapter on Iraq was brought out in 2003. This is perhaps his most influential and prophetic work. Byline, his sixth book, is a celebration of M.J. Akbar, the journalist.
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