From the blurbs

Health and population in India from earliest times to present by Sumit Guha, Permanent Black, Rs 295 In the last millennium old world populations and their new world colonies have expanded enormously. This book highlights the debates in the population history of Asia, Europe and the Americas. A rare document on vaccination is translated for the first time to illustrate diverse cultures and medical techniques. The Service Revolution In India edited by Ejaz Ghani, OUP, Rs 795

A bunch of feisty women

In 1860, two young women held a long discussion on their career prospects in the small southern English town of Hitchens. “I must devote myself to securing the higher education while you open the medical profession to women,” Emily Davies told Elizabeth Garrett Anderson.

Democracy and the good road

It is a common signboard on Indian roads: Caution, men at work. It connotes everything from a nuisance for the motorist to profit for the contractors, from infrastructure addition to government reports to seasonal employment for migrant labourers. It is a space where societies clash, build and destroy.

The track lover

As a child, I would look forward to the vacations. Not just because they usually meant a visit to a relative in the southern or the eastern part of the country.

The world the slaves built

Mid 16th century

Sense of self

1500 AD The Spanish explorer Joao de Barros wrote about Chinese merchants stamping children’s palm prints and footprints on paper with ink to distinguish one youngster from another. JULY 1858

From the blurbs

The Aid Trap by Glen Hubbard and William Duggan, Columbia University Press, US$ 16 Two leading business studies scholars make the case that foreign aid and Third World projects aren’t working. Glen Hubbard and William Duggan condemn the UN’s Millennium Goals strategy as a “charity trap”, that perverts local economies and “keeps corrupt leaders rich”. Waves in the Hinterland, Journey of a Newspaper, Farah Naqvi, Zubaan, Rs 395

Science & Technology - Briefs

archaeology Earliest engineers

Historical signs

An innovative programme has given the hearing impaired greater access to the historical and cultural wealth of Havana. A sign language interpreter would accompany tourists to Old Havana, the historic part of the Cuban capital, if the group included hearing impaired.

Science & Technology - Briefs

archaeology Egyptians loved junk food