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Non-Fiction

Are you looking for some good Non-Fiction books to read? bookGeeks has one of the largest collection of reviews of Indian Non-Fiction Books written by authors like Shashi Tharoor, Anuj Dhar and Devdutt Pattanaik. These can generally be biographies, self-help books, history, economic and scientific writings.

All our reviews are professionally done and the methodology we follow is logical but simple. We divide our book reviews into 5 categories:

1. Subject: This is the main idea behind the book. 2. Relevance: Is the book relevant to the current generation of readers? 3. Writing Style: The readability and language flow. 4. Research: The research done by the author on the present subject. 5. The Entertainment Quotient: Overall enjoyability of the book.

The Roar of Ranthambore | Batti Lal Gurjar | Book Review

Batti Lal Gurjar’s ‘The Roar of Ranthambore’ is a book that shows us the magnificent world of Ranthambore National Park and its majestic tigers through the keenly observing eyes of Batti Lal Gurjar; a man who has been a naturalist at the park for almost 20 years.

10 Books On The Partition Of India That Will Break Your Heart (2024)

Are you looking for books on the partition of India and Pakistan? In this article, I list 10 books which are must-reads to understand the partition of India and Pakistan. They depict moments of happiness, sadness, anger, hatred, and varied emotions.

Eminent Historians | Arun Shourie | Book Review

In “Eminent Historians,” Arun Shourie boldly uncovers a web of bias, plagiarism, and corruption within Indian academic circles. Through meticulous research, he reveals how left-leaning scholars distorted history, whitewashing brutalities and manipulating records. This shocking expose sheds light on the dark underbelly of historical scholarship in India.

What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom | Arash Azizi | Book Review

Dive into ‘What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom’—a riveting narrative unraveling Iran’s growing revolution. Azizi’s meticulous exploration delves into historical roots, ignited by Mahsa Amini’s tragic death, sparking nationwide protests. From Khomeini’s promises to present-day oppression, it’s a compelling journey into Iran’s quest for justice and freedom.

Bhujia Barons | Pavitra Kumar | Book Review

In Bhujia Baron, Pavitra Kumar dives into the delicious legacy of Haldiram’s, where each bite tells a tale of tradition, innovation, and global success. From a Bikaner kitchen to global sensation, she unveils the Agarwal family’s rise, tracing the flavourful ascent from humble beginnings to snack icon status.

Diary of An Expat in Singapore| Jennifer Gargiulo | Review

In ‘Diary of an Expat in Singapore,’ Gargiulo’s witty narrative navigates the bustling streets of the Lion City, immersing readers in its rich culture, tantalizing cuisine, and the everyday quirks of expatriate existence. From navigating the nuances of Singlish to indulging in mouthwatering hawker fare, Gargiulo’s keen observations and self-deprecating humor offer a delightful glimpse into the unique experiences of expatriate life.

All Roads Lead to Ganga | Ruskin Bond | Book Review

In “All Roads Lead to Ganga,” Ruskin Bond pays homage to Ganga and the Himalayas, celebrating their majesty and significance. From the tranquil waters of Mandakini to the towering peaks of Tungnath, the book reverently explores the diverse landscapes of Garhwal, capturing Bond’s profound connection to this cherished land and its sacred rivers.

Explore Indian Love Poetry in ‘Jasmines in Her Hair’ | Kalpesh Desai | Book Review

Embark on a journey through the bittersweet symphony of love and loss in ‘Jasmines in Her Hair.’ With poignant verses and evocative imagery, Kalpesh Desai captures the essence of love’s beauty and heartache. This collection is not just poetry—it’s a deeply personal reflection on the complexities of the human experience, inviting readers to explore the depths of their own emotions.

Indian Love Poetry Books: Top 11 Curated Selections for Poetry Aficionados

Embark on a literary voyage through the pages of Indian Romance Poetry Books: Top 11 Curated Selections, where love blossoms in myriad hues. Delve into the depths of passion and tenderness as poets intricately craft verses that resonate with the soul. Each selection is a testament to the enduring power of love, weaving enchanting tales that leave an indelible mark on the heart.

8 Rules of Love | Jay Shetty | Book Review

In ‘8 Rules of Love,’ inspired by Vedic principles and texts, the author blends ancient wisdom with modern insights. Drawing from the rich heritage of Vedic philosophy, readers discover timeless truths about love, relationships, and self-discovery. Explore profound teachings that resonate across cultures and generations.

Unveiling of the Storm in “1942: When British Rule in India Was Threatened” by Krishna Kumar | Review

Dive into the heart of India’s independence movement with Krishna Kumar’s “1942: When British Rule in India Was Threatened.” Unlike typical textbooks, this captivating read delves deep into the tumultuous events of 1942, offering a rich exploration of a pivotal year in Indian history that altered the course of the British Empire.

Unlock Knowledge: Must-Read Non-Fiction Books for Students

For students seeking intellectual enrichment, nonfiction books open gateways to a diverse world of knowledge. Covering science, history, personal development, and society, our curated list of must-reads ensures a captivating journey that expands horizons and deepens understanding. Embrace the transformative power of nonfiction literature in your educational pursuit.

Books on Ram Mandir: Chapters of Courage & Legacy

Embark on a profound journey through the sacred history of Ayodhya and the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Movement. Explore the enduring legacy, archaeological revelations, and the unyielding spirit that shaped this monumental movement. Discover the cultural hymn echoing through generations, celebrated in books that unravel the movement’s intellectual depths.

Irrfan Khan Beyond Acting: A Literary Journey Through Essential Books and Influences

Illuminating the global stage, Irrfan Khan’s versatile legacy transcends borders. Explore his journey from acclaimed dramas to Hollywood blockbusters. In our homage, discover four must-read books, delving into his life, art, and friendship with directors. Share your favorite performances and recommendations in the comments. Join us in celebrating this cinematic maestro.

10 Lessons from Hindu History in 10 Episodes | Sandeep Balakrishna | Book Review

Embark on a riveting journey through time with ’10 Lessons from Hindu History in 10 Episodes.’ This book is your gateway to unearthing the true and hidden history of Bharatvarsha, spanning centuries. While not exhaustive, these narratives offer a compelling, enlightening perspective, exposing the profound impact of Marxist-leaning scholars on our perception of Indian history. Dive into the depths of an authentic and concealed past, waiting to be uncovered.

Sadhguru Books: A List of Top 15 Books by the Mystic

Discover the profound teachings of Sadhguru in our curated list of the 15 Best Sadhguru Books. Dive into a world of ancient wisdom, meditation, and spirituality as this revered spiritual leader takes you on a journey of self-discovery and inner peace. These books are more than just words; they’re a map to awakening your spirit and finding profound truths. Join us as we explore the transformative power of Sadhguru’s teachings.

Reflections: A Collection of 5 Minute Essays | Uma Rajagopal | Book Review

Within the pages of ‘Reflections: A Collection of 5-Minute Essays’ by Uma Rajagopal, readers embark on a poignant journey through the author’s life experiences. Focusing on themes of motherhood and womanhood, this book offers universal insights, encouraging us all to embrace life’s ups and downs and find our passions. With relatable anecdotes and a personal touch, it’s a heartwarming, thought-provoking read, celebrating the beauty of life’s small moments and the power of self-discovery.

A God Who Hates Women | Majid Rafizadeh | Book Review

In ‘A God Who Hates Women,’ set against the backdrop of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Syria and Iran, author Dr. Majid Rafizadeh delves into his mother Amira’s tumultuous life. Born into a society that devalued girls, Amira’s journey unfolds with forced marriage, abuse, and relentless struggle. It’s a gripping exploration of a family’s resilience in the face of brutal patriarchy, offering a stark portrayal of an era marked by ancient traditions and the relentless pursuit of survival.

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Top 10 Indian non-fiction books of 2022

By Arman Khan

It is no secret that Indians prefer reading non-fiction. As much as some of us prefer to get lost in fictional worlds that both comfort and confound us, data tells us fact sells over fiction and numerous publishers from different publishing houses have gone on record to attest to the same.

What does this say about us, as readers ? 

For one, in a post-truth world, non-fiction cannot take creative liberties, or stretch facts to suit political agendas. While collating this list, we grappled with a critical question: Who claims the truth? From a philosophical standpoint, one can argue that the truth is multi-faceted, each as valid as the other. So, these ten Indian non-fiction books, in many ways, were in the service of the truth of the worlds they approached with laborious research, stitching strong narratives without falling for sensationalism.

Best Indian non-fiction books of 2022: 

By K.A. Abbas

Translated from Urdu by Syeda Hameed and Sukhpreet Kahlon

At a time when the relevance of films, and indeed Bollywood itself, is being hotly contested, this book by multi-hyphenate K.A. Abbas, originally written in Urdu, immersed us in the magic of the movies. With a masterful blend of personal essays, short stories, and interviews, Abbas reflects on the legacy of stars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Satyajit Ray, and more. The writing is uninhibited and invites the reader to assess these stars, their films and their impact anew. 

Edited by Shilpa Tripathi and Salil Tripathi  

Billed as a testament to the power of words, this anthology blends poems that dissect the state of things, interviews with artists that interrogate the need for art in today’s time and essays that beckon us to question power structures. The staggering range of this anthology is evident from the fact that a poem by Giordano Bruno (who was executed by the Church for his scientific pursuits) and excerpts from Umar Khalid’s prison diaries sit together. 

By Anirudh Kanisetti  

Released in the early weeks of this year, this book by debut author Kanisetti was a stunner in every meaning of the word. Many readers had complained that publishers just weren’t commissioning enough non-fiction from the south about southern history and the deep impact it made in the larger Indian sociopolitical edifice. With this meticulously researched book, Kanisetti not only celebrates this overlooked history but also celebrates the legacy of all things Deccan. 

By Aanchal Malhotra  

By Jenna Ryu

By Gaurav Sonavane

By Umaima Saeed

How do we inherit a blood-tainted legacy, permeated with fear and loss? Malhotra trains her gaze towards the children and grandchildren of partition survivors to understand how they make sense of the trauma of a past that they never experienced firsthand but whose effects they can see all too clearly in the present – from the silences of their grandparents to the country at large. 

By Shailaja Paik

At the heart of this powerful book is the idea of reclaiming the identity of Dalit women who were central to the history and cultural legacy of tamasha–a form of street play popular in rural Maharashtra. As Paik, the associate professor of history at the University of Cincinnati, shows us, the Dalit women of tamasha often had to navigate casteism, skewed power ratios and life itself during these tamasha performances. This book sets the record straight and asks us to reassess our cultural legacies, looking beyond romanticisation. 

By Freny Manecksha  

What is the human cost of war? In what precise terms do we define our glories when we are blissfully unaware of the many lives affected along the way, the unseen? In this eye-opener of a book, the author takes us into the two most conflicted regions of modern India–Kashmir and Chattisgarh. He doesn’t repeat what we already don’t know. There are hardly any history lessons there. Instead, he shows us how a peaceful meadow in Kashmir was converted into an artillery ground overnight, how indigenous communities lost their homes overnight to the mafia, and how the most seemingly ordinary people hope against hope and uphold peace at the end of the day. 

By Akshaya Mukul

A momentous biography of one of the tallest giants in Hindi literature, this tome of a book also analyses the multi-hyphenate genius of this Hindi poet. A teacher, radio professional, editor of leading literary and political journals, and captain in the British Indian army, as  The Hindu  put it: “His life presents a microcosm of hopes, anxieties and desperations of the 20th-century Indian literati.” 

By Aniruddha Mahale

From the stylist who taught him how to dress, the teacher who taught him how to behave, the socialite who taught him how to charm – this is the near definitive guide to dating as a gay man in India. Mahale blends his quirky observations about the gay culture in India (and its many pitfalls) with his own escapades. Not one to wallow in misery or go for easy tropes, Mahale peels back the romanticism around being gay in urban India to reveal the complicated, layered inside. 

By Siddharth Sonkar

In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled in a nine-judge bench, unanimously, that privacy is a fundamental right. Over the past five years, how far have we come? At a time when privacy violations, both the state and private stakeholders, are at stake, what do we lose? Sonkar, a privacy and tech lawyer, shows us just exactly what is at stake.  

By Nilanjana Bhowmick  

The kind of book that knocks all our jaded stereotypes about Indian women out of the park with statistical data, personal anecdotes and a sociological analysis that holds nothing back. Every chapter confronts the pressing questions surrounding Indian women – from menstrual hygiene to the superwoman syndrome and even child marriage. This is a book to gift, re-gift and gift again. 

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NOTIFICATIONS

कथेतर विधा की जिन पुस्तकों से होते हुए हम आए 2021 में

हाल के कुछ वर्षों में कविता कहानी और उपन्यास लेखन की पारंपरिक विधाओं से अलग नया बहुत कुछ रचा जा रहा है, जिसने न केवल विधाओं के नए क्षितिजों का उदघाटन किया है बल्‍कि एक नया पाठक संसार पैदा किया है. कथेतर गद्य की विविध विधाओं पर एक नजर.

• 20 जनवरी 2021,
• (अपडेटेड 20 जनवरी 2021, 10:04 PM IST)

एक दौर था परिदृश्य में केवल कविताएं, कहानियां व उपन्यास दिखते थे. न आत्मकथाएं थीं, न जीवनियां, न डायरी, न संस्मरण, न रेखाचित्र, न ढंग के यात्रावृत्त. किन्तु पिछले तीन-चार दशकों से हिंदी के रचनात्मक लेखन का स्वरूप बदला है. अब कहानी, उपन्यास व कविता जैसी पारंपरिक विधाओं की अपेक्षा कथेतर गद्य की बहुत ज्यादा मांग है. लोग जीवनी पढ़ना चाहते हैं, संस्मरण पढ़ना चाहते हैं, डायरी पढ़ना चाहते हैं- इन सब विधाओं में इधर ज्यादा लिखा भी जा रहा है. पर आज भी रेखाचित्र व ललित निबंध में लोगों का हाथ तंग है. आचार्य हजारी प्रसाद द्विवेदी, कुबेरनाथ राय, पं विद्यानिवास मिश्र के बाद से इस विधा में वैसी रौनक नहीं रही. हैं कुछ लोग जो लिखने को ललित निबंध लिख रहे हैं, पर न वैसा भाव है, न प्रभाव है, न वैसी ललक कि इन्हें पढ़ते हुए मन रमे. देखते-देखते रेखाचित्र की विधा लुप्त हो गयी. नाटक लिखे जाने बंद होते गए. ललित निबंध लिखे जाने कम होते गए. वैसे बहुअधीत संस्कृतिविद भी हमारे बीच नहीं रहे जो यह काम अंजाम दे सकें. यह महीन क्राफ्ट का काम है, सबके लिए साध्य नहीं. व्यंग्य भी हरिशंकर परसाई, शरद जोशी, श्रीलाल शुक्ल व ज्ञान चतुर्वेदी के बाद जैसे किसी अंधी गली में गुम हो गया है. व्यंग्यकारों में वह रेंज उत्तरोत्तर लुप्त हो रही है जिसे इन लेखकों ने अपने वक्त में कायम रखा और विकसित किया. सुशील सिद्धार्थ का अवधी बॉंकपन उनके व्यंग्य में नजर आता था, जिससे उम्मीद की जा सकती थी पर वे रहे नहीं. सम्पत सरल जैसे व्यंग्यकार मंच को समर्पित हो चुके. यों आज के व्यंग्य में भीड़ काफी है- प्रेम जनमेजय, सुरेश कांत, लालित्‍य ललित, रमेश सोनी आदि हैं, पर व्यंग्य का कोई खास प्रतिबिम्ब बनता नजर नहीं आता. सब फुटकर हैं, बँधा नोट कोई नहीं. आलोक पुराणिक जैसे कुछ विरल लोग मैदान में हैं पर यह मैदान ज्‍यादातर औसत प्रतिभाओं से अँटा पड़ा है. कथेतर विधाओं में अन्य विधाएं भी आ जुड़ी हैं. इंटरव्यू भी उनमें एक है. खोजी विश्लेषण भी है. तथापि, कथेतर विधाओं में बहुत सा नया लिखा जा रहा है जिसकी मांग भी इन दिनों सर्वाधिक है.

** गांधी चिंतन और पुस्तकें हमारे यहां श्रद्धा का दौर उमड़ता है तो उमड़ता ही चला जाता है. ऐसी ही श्रद्धा गए साल देश में राष्ट्रपिता के रूप में समादृत मोहनदास करमचंद गांधी पर उमड़ी. जहां तक साहित्य-2020 का  कथेतर परिदृश्य रहा है, गांधी 150वीं जयंती के उपलक्ष्य में लगातार चिंतन और विमर्श में बने रहे और तमाम पत्रिकाओं के अंक उन पर आए. कई पुस्तकें उन पर लिखी गयीं. यह सिलसिला साल 2019 में ही शुरू हो गया था. उस साल भी गांधी पर अनेक पुस्तकें आई थीं, जिनमें - बसंत कुमार मल्लिक की 'गांधी एक भविष्य वाणी' और जोसेफ जे. डोक की पुस्तक 'गॉंधी-दक्षिण अफ्रीका में भारतीय देशभक्त' के अनुवाद से लेकर मुरियल लेस्टिर की पुस्तक 'गांधी की मेजबानी' तक. यह सिलसिला 2020 में भी बना रहा.

इसका एक ही अर्थ है कि गांधी आज भी प्रासंगिक हैं. सत्ता पक्ष के लिए गांधी को लेकर असमंजस भी है और पुजौती का भाव भी. बहरहाल गांधी पर अकबर इलाहाबादी की 'गांधीनामा' वाणी से प्रकाशित हुई है जिसकी खूबसूरत प्रस्तुति रक्षंदा जलील ने की है तथा लिप्यंतरण किया है प्रदीप साहिल ने. व्यंग्यात्मक लहजे में अकबर इलाहाबादी ने गांधी की भारतीय राजनीति में उपस्थिति को लेकर सामान्य मुस्लि‍म समाज की ज़हनी कश्मकश को चुटीले तेवर में व्यक्त किया है. समाज के हर तबके के लिए गांधी कुतूहल का विषय रहे हैं. गांधी तत्कालीन भारतीय राजनीति की धुरी थे और अकबर एक चुटीले शायर. गांधी के लिए उनका एक शेर यों है: ' सुन लो ये भेद, मुल्क जो गांधी के साथ है/ तुम क्या  हो, सिर्फ पेट हो, वो क्या है, हाथ है.'

'गांधी की सुंदरता' शीर्षक एक भव्य पुस्तक युवा कवि सुशोभित की आई है. गांधी को लेकर एक युवा लेखक क्या सोचता है यह सुशोभित ने गांधी की वे खूबियां बयान की हैं जो अक्सर गांधीवादी छवि से परे जाती है. गांधी को लेकर अपार दुष्प्रचार या अपार श्रद्धा के बीच सुशोभित ने एक नया समकालीन और सुसंगत नेरेटिव बुनने का यत्न किया है. वे कहते हैं जिस तरह अनुपम मिश्र साफ माथे का समाज की बात करते थे, यह पुस्तक साफ माथे की पोथी है जो गांधी को लेकर कई पीढ़ियों की आंखों में फैले जाले को साफ करने का काम करती है. इसी संदर्भ में उदयन वाजपेयी के अनुवाद में जेम्सी डब्लू डगलस की पुस्तक 'गांधी और अकथनीय'  प्रकाशित हुई है. गांधी को लेकर अतीत की तमाम घटनाओं के साथ 'गांधी को किसने मारा' पुस्तक अशोक कुमार पांडेय के शोध और विश्लेष्णाधारित तार्किक निष्कर्षों का निचोड़ है, जिसकी इस साल काफी चर्चा रही है. गांधी पर सुपरिचित गांधीवादी लेखक श्रीभगवान सिंह ने गांधी के आश्रमों को लेकर एक रोचक पुस्तक लिखी है 'गांधी के आश्रम संदेश हैं' जिसे उन्होंने गांधी के देश विदेश में फैले आश्रमों की यात्राओं एवं शोध  के उपरांत अद्यतन रूप से प्रस्तुत किया है. इसके अलावा श्रीभगवान सिंह ने ही 'गांधी और हिंदी साहित्यं' विषयक पुस्तक में हिंदी साहित्य  में गांधी की व्याप्ति का संतोषजनक अध्ययन प्रस्तुदत किया है. कवि हेमंत कुकरेती ने भी 'गांधी दर्शन: आलोचनात्मक अध्ययन'  में गांधी को एक कवि की अंतरात्मा से देखा और साक्षात्कार किया है. सुजाता की पुस्तक 'नोआखालीः एक व्यक्ति की विजयी सेना' भी महात्मा से जुड़े तमाम ऐतिहासिक सच को लेकर सामने आती है.

** संस्मरण एवं जीवन-आख्यान आज जब खुद के बारे में ही आत्मालाप करने का चलन हो, पुरखों को व अपने संगी साथियों को भला कौन याद करता है. याद भी करता है तो अपनी महानता के उद्घोष के साथ कि देखों मेरा कद क्या था. बहुतों के संस्मरण पढ़े हैं- पढ़ कर बहुतों के गद्य के प्रति आसक्ति और आकर्षण बढ़ा है. अशोक वाजपेयी हमेशा यह कहते रहे हैं कि हिंदी की दुनिया अकृतज्ञों की दुनिया है- यह शब्दावली कुछ भिन्न हो सकती है पर आशय यही है. हम अपने पूर्वजों और समकालीनों के प्रति बहुत ही उपेक्षित रवैया अपनाए रहते हैं और बहुधा उसके न होने पर श्रद्धा की गागर उड़ेलते रहे हैं. हिंदी की दुनिया में यह व्याधि चौतरफा दीखती है. अशोक वाजपेयी की हाल ही में सेतु प्रकाशन से आई पुस्तक 'अगले वक्तों के हैं ये लोग' --हमारे समय के कुछ तेजस्वी शख्सियतों पर लिखे संस्मरण हैं जिन्हें अशोक जी ने बहुत आत्मीयता से याद किया है. अज्ञेय, शमशेर, त्रिलोचन, मुक्तिबोध, नेमिचंद्र जैन, इन्तेज़ार हुसैन, हरिशंकर परसाई, कृष्णा सोबती, कृष्णी बलदेव वैद, बदरी विशाल पित्ती , निर्मल वर्मा, श्रीकांत वर्मा, मल्लिकार्जुन मंसूर, कुमार गंधर्व, सैयद हैदर रज़ा, जगदीश स्वामीनाथन, ब. व. कारंत, व अर्जुन सिंह इन अठारह विभूतियों के बारे में तमाम यादों को ऐसे संजोया है जैसे वह कोई धरोहर हो. अशोक वाजपेयी के ये संस्मरण आज के स्मृ्तिहीन समय में यादगार संस्मरण हैं.

हिंदी में रवीन्द्र कालिया एक कल्ट की तरह युवाओं के प्रेरणास्रोत रहे हैं. जालंधर में पले बढे और अरसे तक इलाहाबाद में रहने के बाद वे कोलकाता और दिल्ली रहे. कोलकाता और दिल्ली के कथाकार संपादक रवींद्र कालिया का तेवर इलाहाबाद से जुदा था. वे छिनाल प्रकरण इत्यादि कारणों से विवादों में भी रहे, दिलचस्पियों का केंद्र भी. ममता कालिया ने उनके व्यक्तित्व के अनेक रंगों को अपनी यादगार पुस्तक 'रवि-कथा' में बहुत ही आत्मीय और भावुक अंदाज में प्रस्तुत किया है. कहना न होगा कि ममता जी का गद्य किन्हीं मामलों में कालिया से भी बेहतर कोटि का था, जिसका प्रतिबिम्ब 'कितने शहरों में कितनी बार' सहित इस कृति में भी झलकता है. ममता कालिया की ही एक और पुस्तक 'यादें और किताबें' सूर्य प्रकाशन मंदिर से आई है. इसी तरह कथाकार संपादक अवधनारायण मुद्गल के जीवन और व्‍यक्‍तित्‍व पर आधारित कथाकार चित्रा मुदगल का जीवन आख्यान 'तिल भर जग नहीं' अवध नारायण मुद्गल के लेखकीय जीवन के साथ न्याय करता है. चित्रा जी ने अपनी निस्संगता व वस्तुनिष्ठता का परिचय देते हुए अवध जी के जीवन, लेखन और पत्रकारिता के हर पहलू को बहुत ही सलीके से स्मरण किया है. कभी चित्रा जी ने एक साक्षात्कार में कहा था कि मेरे सांवले सलोनेपन की तारीफ अवध जी खुल कर करते थे. इसमें साथ जिये गए जीवन की अनेक दुर्लभ छवियां भी हैं.

'हाशिमपुरा 22 मई' कथाकार एवं पुलिस अधिकारी रहे विभूति नारायण राय की संस्मरणात्मक कृति है. मेरठ के  हाशिमपुरा में हुए क्रूर नरसंहार कांड के सच और भयावह यथार्थ को विभूति नारायण राय ने अपने संस्मरण में विश्वसनीयता के साथ दर्ज किया है. 'रचना का अंतरंग' शीर्षक से आई कथाकार देवेंद्र की संस्मरणात्मक पुस्तक भी किस्सागोई के ताने बाने से भरी है. वाणी प्रकाशन से आई कुसुम अंसल की संस्मराणात्मक कृति 'कहने को बहुत कुछ था'- उनकी यादों का एक जीवंत दस्तावेज है. मुशायरों को लेकर आई इक़बाल रिज़वी की किताब 'क्या हो रहा है मुशायरों में अब'- मुशायरों के इतिहास को लेकर यादगार पुस्तक बन गयी है. न्यूज रिपोर्टिंग की दास्तान भी कथा रिपोर्ताज की तरह रोमांचित कर सकती है, अपने पत्रकारीय जीवन के अनुभवों को लक्ष्मी प्रसाद पंत ने बहुत ही रोचक अंदाज में 'न्‍यूजमैन@ वर्क' में प्रस्तुत किया है.

संस्मरण विधा में ही किताबघर प्रकाशन से आई 'समय की स्मृति' में समकालीन लेखकों के संस्मरण हैं. इसमें विद्यानिवास मिश्र, विष्णुकांत शास्त्री, मनोहर श्याम जोशी, शिवप्रसाद सिंह, नागार्जुन और अशोक वाजपेयी व लीलाधर जगूड़ी जैसे 21 लेखकों के संस्मरण विश्वनाथ प्रसाद तिवारी ने लिखे हैं. उन्होंने साहित्य अकादेमी के अपने कार्यकाल के दौरान हुए साहित्यिक विवादों को भी संस्मंरणों में उठाया है. अस्ति और भवति के बाद ये छोटे-छोटे लेखकीय संस्मरण इन लेखकों के व्यक्तित्‍व को समझने में सहायता करते हैं तथा रम्य रचना की तरह पठनीय हैं.

** आत्मकथा और जीवनी आत्मकथा भी अब एक बहुत ही आकर्षक विधा बन चुकी है. यह अलग बात है कि आत्मकथाओं में कितनी ईमानदारी से लेखक पेश आते हैं. हिंदी के बेस्टसेलर उपन्यास लिखने वाले सुरेंद्र मोहन पाठक की आत्मकथा 'निंदक नियरे राखिए' इस अर्थ में भरपूर रोचकता लिए हुए है. एक प्रसिद्ध और लोकप्रिय लेखक बनने की सुरेंद्र मोहन पाठक की यात्रा कितनी उतार चढाव भरी रही है, इस पुस्तक में वे लेखक प्रकाशक पाठक सबसे अपने रिश्ते पर बेबाक बातें करते हुए नजर आते हैं. लोकवार्ताओं के सुधी अध्येता और सुंदर गीतों की रचना करने वाले श्याम सुंदर दुबे की आत्मकथा 'अटकते भटकते' यश पब्‍लिकेशन्‍स से आई है जो उनके सुदीर्घ जीवन के निजी व साहित्यिक प्रसंगों को उद्घाटित करती है. हिंदयुग्म से आई 'कालो थियु सै, पागल हुए हो?' - कथाकार किशोर चौधरी के संस्मरणों की कृति है जहां वे किस्सागोई के तानेबाने में ही अपनी यादों को पन्नों पर दर्ज करते हैं.

जीवनी लेखन की दिशा में गए साल कुछ प्रयत्न बेहतरीन कहे जा सकते हैं. सुधी कवयित्री प्रतिभा कटियार ने बहुत मेहनत से रूस की महान कवयित्री मारीना त्‍स्वेतायेवा के युग और जीवन पर 'मारीना' शीर्षक कृति लिखी है, जिसमें उनके तमाम बिखरे फैले संदर्भों को खँगाल कर उसके बचपन, युवावस्था, निर्वासन और मास्को वापसी के वृत्तांत को जीवनी के शिल्प में ढाला गया है. इस कार्य में उनका सुयोग्य मार्गदर्शन रूसी साहित्य के अध्येता अनुवादक वरयाम सिंह ने किया है सो 'मारीना' में भाषा, आख्यान और शोधपरक तथ्यों के सुनियोजन में प्रतिभा कटियार का रचनात्मक श्रम और संवेदनशील स्त्री मन भी पग-पग पर झलकता है. मारीना के जीवन के तथ्‍य इस तरह रुसी पत्र पत्रिकाओं में बिखरे थे कि बिना पर्याप्‍त अध्‍ययन व सहायता के यह काम पूरा नहीं किया जा सकता था, पर प्रतिभा ने बेहतरीन तरीके से इस पुस्‍तक को साधा है. इसी तरह गए साल संवाद प्रकाशन से आलोक श्रीवास्‍तव की लिखी 'गांधी की जीवन कहानी'  भी आई है. 'गांधीगिरी बनाम गुलामगिरी और दादागिरी' यानी गांधी की प्रासंगिकता पर इतिहासज्ञ लालबहादुर वर्मा की पुस्‍तक सुचिंतित तर्कों से भरी है.

इसी क्रम में बालीवुड के महान खलनायक प्रेम चोपड़ा पर उनकी बेटी रंकिता नंदा की लिखी किताब ' प्रेम नाम है--प्रेम चोपड़ा' एक खलनायक के भीतर के बेहतरीन मनुष्य  का साक्षात्कार कराती है. 2019 जहां रघुवीर सहाय व नागार्जुन पर आई बेहतरीन जीवनियों का गवाह रहा है, तो प्रो पुष्पेश पंत की गए साल आई पूर्व सांसद एवं राजनेता डीपी त्रिपाठी पर प्रकाशित 'देवी के डीपीटी बनने की कहानी' एक राजनीतिज्ञ एवं बहुज्ञ व्यक्ति का रोचक वृत्तांत है. डी.पी. जिस महफिल में मंच पर होते थे, उनके बोलने से उस विषय का पूरा अवगाहन हो जाता था. रफी शब्‍बीर की लिखी एक बेहतरीन जीवनी आईसेक्‍ट प्रकाशन से शकीलाबानो भोपाली की आई है - बानो का बाबू' जो अपने जमाने की जानी मानी कव्‍वाल थीं.

** रम्य रचना: उल्लेखनीय उपस्थिति एक जमाना था, अमृत राय की एक रम्य रचना 'रम्या' नाम से आई थी. छोटे-छोटे निबंधों में जीवन के अनुभवों को सहेजने वाले उन निबंधों की तरह ही युवा कवि सुशोभित की दो बेहतरीन रम्य' कृतियां गए साल आईं-- बायस्कोप, यश पब्लिकेशंस से  एवं सुनो बकुल, प्रतिश्रुति प्रकाशन से. सुशोभित का लेकीय विस्फोट सच कहें तो इधर दो तीन साल के भीतर हुआ है और जबर्दस्त हुआ है. बायस्कोप और सुनो बकुल को फुर्सत के क्षणों में पढ़ा और उनमें रमा जा सकता है. बायस्कोप में सुशोभित ने अपने शहर उज्जैन के अनेक ठीहों को जीवन के विश्वविद्यालय की संज्ञा दी है. लौकिक जिज्ञासाओं के सारे बिन्दु इस पुस्तक के निबंधों में मिलेंगे, यानी एक युवा के जीवन की वे छवियां जो इतने रचनात्मक ढंग से शायद ही कहीं अन्यत्र मिलें. निजी वृत्तांत पढ़ते हुए हम सबके भीतर का युवा जीवन जैसे जाग उठता है. सुशोभित की वृत्तांत-वृत्ति में एक तरह का ठहराव है, आत्मचिंतन और सुचिंतित विश्लेषण है जो उनकी हाल की पुस्तकों की अपनी विशेषता है. 'सुनो बकुल' में वे विभिन्न तरीके के विषय उठाते हैं---कवि मन जिसमें भी रम जाए. इसमें लोक, शास्त्र, पुराण, मिथक प्रकृति के उपादान इतिहास और संस्कृत के रोचक प्रसंग- क्‍या कुछ नहीं है, जिसे रोचक वृत्तांत के रूप में सहेजा गया है.

यात्रा वृत्तांतों में असगर वजाहत का 'उम्र भर सफर में रहा' नई किताब से आई उल्लेखनीय कृति है. इससे पहले भी असगर वजाहत के यात्रावृत्त आ चुके हैं. 'स्‍वर्ग में पॉंच दिन' भी बेहतरीन यात्रा वृत्तांत बन पड़ा है. राजपाल एंड संस से आई मनीषा कुलश्रेष्ठ की पुस्तक 'होना अतिथि कैलाश का' सुखद विवरणों से भरी है, तो राजकमल प्रकाशन से प्रकाशित उमेश पंत की पुस्त‍क 'दूर दुर्गम दूरस्थ' भी रोचक वृत्तांतों से बुनी गयी है. 'युद्ध यात्रा' शीर्षक से धर्मवीर भारती का यात्रा वृत्तांत भी वाणी से आया है.  'ल्हासा नहीं... लवासा' - सचिन देव शर्मा का रोचक यात्रा वृत्तांत है. सेतु प्रकाशन से आई मंगलेश डबराल की देश-विदेश की यात्राओं पर आधारित यात्रा वृत्तांत उनकी पुस्तक एक सड़क एक जगह में उनके बेहतरीन गद्य के साथ संजोया गया है. यहीं से यात्राओं के कुछ टुकड़ों और स्मृ‍ति चित्रों के साथ कविता पर विचार की एक गद्यकृति राजेश जोशी की आई है: 'वह हँसी बहुत कुछ कहती थी'. जो लोग जोशी के साहित्यिक नोट्स पढ़ चुके हैं उन्हें यह पुस्तक भी भली लगेगी.

हिंदी के वयोवृद्ध लेखक प्रो रामदरश मिश्र कोरोना एकांत में भी साहित्य साधना में सतत सक्रिय रहे हैं. उनकी एक डायरी 'मेरा कमरा' गए साल के मध्य में ही आई है जिसमें उन्होंने अपने बीते हुए दिनों के साहित्यिक संस्मरणों को खूबसूरती से संजोया है. सूर्य प्रकाशन मंदिर से आई कवयित्री पारुल पुखराज की डायरी 'आवाज को आवाज़ न थी'  इस बार उनके गद्य की बानगी के साथ उपस्थित हैं तो बोधि प्रकाशन से पद्मजा शर्मा की डायरी 'विश्वास का घर' और प्रदीप सिंह की डायरी 'वरक दर वरक' भी पठनीय डायरियों में शुमार की जाएगी. राजा राम भादू की 'स्वयं के विरुद्ध' पुस्तक कविता डायरी के रूप में आई है. समय, समाज और साहित्य के सवालों पर नंद भारद्वाज पर आधारित पुस्तक 'नंद जी से हथाई' का संपादन नीरज दइया ने किया है जो नंद भारद्वाज के लेखक व्यक्‍तित्‍व को समझने में मदद करती है.  

** हिंदी आलोचना का वर्तमान हिंदी में आलोचक की स्थिति ऐसी है कि यदि वह रचना के सकारात्मक पक्षों का विवेचन करे तो उसकी उदारता का मखौल उड़ाया जाता है और आलोचना की कसौटियों पर कसते हुए सख्ती से आलोचना करें तो लेखक या कवि मुँह फुलाकर बैठ जाते हैं. आलोचना इस तरह एक सांसत का काम है जिसमें कभी शाबाशी नहीं मिलती, आलोचकों को. फिर भी हिंदी परिदृश्य में उनकी धमक आज भी बरकरार है. गए साल वाणी प्रकाशन से आई युवा आलोचक वैभव सिंह की पुस्तक 'हिंदी कहानी विचारधारा और यथार्थ' उनके कथानुशीलन का परिचायक है, तो हिंदी नवजागरण पर अपने चिंतन के लिए पहचाने जाने वाले शंभूनाथ की पुस्तक 'भारत की अवधारणा' को एक बेहतरीन आलोचनात्मक विमर्श के रूप में चिह्नित किया गया है. कविता की नई संवेदना पर व्यास मणि त्रिपाठी की पुस्तक पठनीय है. हाल में गुजरे कुंवर नारायण पर इन पंक्तियों के लेखक की आलोचनात्मक कृति 'कुंवर नारायण: कविता की सगुण इकाई' तथा संपादित कृति 'कूँवर नारायण: कवि का उत्‍तर जीवन' हमारे दौर के उम्दा कवि को समझने की दिशा में एक प्रयास है, तो अज्ञेय पर हितेश कुमार सिंह की कृति 'अज्ञेय होने का अर्थ' अज्ञेय के प्रति उनके समर्पित लेखकीय-संपादकीय कौशल का परिणाम है. गिरिजा कुमार माथुर की जन्मशती के अवसर पर पवन माथुर ने 'काल पर छूटी निशानी' शीर्षक से उन पर एक आलोचनात्मक पुस्तक संपादित की है, जो माथुर के कवि व्यक्तित्व को समझने का एक साझा प्रयास है. जाने माने आलोचक रहे प्रभाकर श्रोत्रिय की पुस्तक 'भारतीय गल्प' आलोचना का एक प्रांजल उदाहरण है. 'वाचिकता आदिवासी साहित्य और सौंदर्यबोध' के बहाने वंदना टेटे ने आदिवासी साहित्य को आलोचनात्मक कसौटियों पर कसा है. डॉ अलिफ़ नाज़िम के शोध व संपाद्न में मुंशी दुर्गा सहाय सुरूर जहानाबादी समग्र का जिक्र भी जरूरी है. यह पुस्तक वेद प्रचारमंडल भटिंडा से छपी है.

अन्य आलोचनात्मक कृतियों में अमन प्रकाशन से आई 'कविता के वरिष्ठ नागरिक' में रामदरश मिश्र से लेकर हेमंत शेष तक सत्रह कवियों के काव्य‍ वैशिष्ट्य का अवलोकन आकलन किया गया है, तो राजकमल प्रकाशन से आई व्योमेश शुक्ल की पुस्तक 'कठिन का अखाड़ेबाज और अन्य निबंध' व्योमेश शुक्ल के गद्यचिंतन का एक संजीदा प्रारुप है जिसमें व्योमेश का कहना है कि हम उस समाज के अधुनातन स्पन्दनों की, उसके उत्थान और पतन की, उसके अतीत, वर्तमान और भविष्य की मीमांसा करने वाला गद्य लिखना चाहते हैं, जिसका हम खुद बहुत छोटा हिस्सा हैं. लोकभारती से आई कन्हैया सिंह की पुस्तक 'आलोचना के प्रत्यय' आलोचना की वैचारिकी और जरूरी तत्वों का विस्तार से विवेचन करती है तो विजया बुक्स से आई ओम निश्चल की 'समकालीन हिंदी कविता: ऐतिहासिक परिप्रेक्ष्य' 1980 से लेकर 2020 तक के कवियों व साठोत्तर कविता की राजनीतिक, सामाजिक, सांस्कृतिक, पृष्ठभूमि का विस्तृत विवेचन है. बोधि प्रकाशन से आगत उषारानी राव की आलोचनात्मक पुस्तक 'अभी न होगा मेरा अंत: निराला' उनके लेखकीय कौशल का परिचायक है. विजया बुक्‍स से 'माधव कौशिक की काव्‍य संवेदना' नामक पुस्‍तक मंजुला राणा के संपादन में आई है.

** विविध पुस्तकें गए कुछ सालों में स्त्रीं चिंतन का क्षितिज व्यापक हुआ है. सीमान द बोउवा और जर्मन ग्रियर जैसे स्त्रीचिंतकों को भारत की लेखिकाओं ने जैसे अपनी आत्मा से ग्रहण किया है. स्त्री विमर्श की दृष्टि से चित्रा मुद्गल की पुस्तक 'छिन्नमस्ता नहीं मैं' उनके बेहतरीन बहसतलब आलेखों का संकलन है तो गरिमा श्रीवास्तव ने 'स्त्री दर्पण' पुस्तक के जरिए हिंदी नवजागरण और स्त्री का एक सुचिंतित खाका प्रस्तुत किया है. वे अरसे से स्त्री  चिंतन और वैचारिकी पर काम कर रही हैं तथा उनकी रचनाओं को सामने लाते हुए उनके मूल्यांकन के लिए प्रतिश्रुत रही हैं. विस्मृत रचनाकार शिवरानी देवी पर क्षमाशंकर पांडेय ने सामर्थ्य के साथ कलम चलाई है तो तस्लीमा नसरीन की पुस्तक 'दूसरा पक्ष' स्त्रीविमर्श पर उनके बहसतलब तेवर का उदाहरण है. पर्यावरण चिंतन की दिशा में वाणी से कबीर संजय की 'चीता', शेखर पाठक की 'हरी भरी उम्मीद' और अंकिता जैन की 'ओह रे किसान' जैसी पुस्तकें आई हैं, जो पर्यावरण के महत्वपूर्ण पक्ष को हमारे समक्ष उद्घाटित करती हैं.

मुगल बादशाहों की गतिविधियों पर हेरंब चतुर्वेदी का काम उल्लेखनीय रहा है. गए साल प्रो अजय तिवारी ने मुगल बादशाहों के साहित्यिक प्रेम को लेकर एक महत्त्वपूर्ण पुस्त‍क लिखी है- संगीत कविता हिंदी और मुगल बादशाह.  मुगल बादशाहों की हिन्दी कविता और हिन्दुस्तानी संगीत में गहरी रुचि रही है. कहा जाता है कि  बादशाह अकबर से लेकर भारत के प्रथम स्वाधीनता संग्राम के सेनानी बहादुरशाह ज़फर तक लगभग सभी मुगल बादशाहों ने संगीत के अनुशासन में बंध कर परम्परा से चले आ रहे 'ध्रुपद' को आधार बनाकर काव्य-सृजन किया. युवा कवि विवेक निराला की संस्तुति है कि भारतीय समाज, साहित्य और संगीत से मुगल बादशाहों के अन्तर्मिश्रण और अंतस्संम्बन्धों की पड़ताल के साथ ही हमारे सांस्कृतिक विकास की पहचान के लिए यह एक ज़रूरी पुस्तक साबित होगी, ऐसा मेरा विश्वास है. प्रियदर्शी ठाकुर 'ख़याल' की पुस्तक 'रानी रूपमती की आत्मकथा', राजू कुमार झा की पुस्तक 'एक धड़्कन दो दिल', पंकज चतुर्वेदी के संपादन में लोकमित्र प्रकाशन से छपी पुस्तक 'दिल्ली दंगों का सच' भी कोरोनाकाल के लॉकडाउन के बावजूद एक बड़ा शोध -प्रयास है. यह पुस्तक फरवरी 2020 में उत्तर-पूर्वी दिल्ली में हुए दंगों पर दिल्ली अल्पसंख्यक आयोग फैक्ट-फाइंडिंग कमेटी की रिपोर्ट का अनुवाद है.

बस्तर को लेकर हाल के वर्षों में कई पुस्तकें लिखी गयी हैं, इसी कड़ी में यश पब्लिकेशन्स से आई कमलेश कमल की पुस्तक 'आपरेशन बस्तर' कथा रिपोर्ताज का एक बेहतरीन नमूना है, जिसे पुलिस बल के ही एक लेखक ने लिखा है. बस्‍तर के बीहड़ों में एक अत्‍यंत रूमानी प्रेमकथा खोज लेना, बस्‍तर का विस्‍तृत वितान और इस सबके बीच स्‍त्री पात्रों के मनोजगत की सुगमता से पड़ताल इस कथा रिपोर्ताज के गद्य को सुगठित और पठनीय बनाता है. सेतु प्रकाशन से ज्ञानरंजन की पुस्तक 'उपस्थिति का अर्थ' उनके सुपरिचित गद्य का प्रमाण है.

साहित्य अकादेमी ने गए साल दो महत्वपूर्ण रचना संचयन निकाले- रामविलास शर्मा रचना संचयन और विष्णु प्रभाकर रचना संचयन जिसका संपादन क्रमश: हरिमोहन शर्मा व अतुल कुमार ने किया है. वाणी प्रकाशन से गोपेश्‍वर सिंह संपादित 'विजयदेव नारायण साही रचना संचयन' उनकी रचनाओं का चुनिंदा चयन है. इसके अलावा विनिबंधों की कड़ी में अब श्रीलाल शुक्ल पर प्रेम जनमेजय, पदुमलाल पुन्नालाल बख्शी पर सुशील त्रिवेदी व गोविंद बल्लभ पंत पर शेर सिंह बिष्ट के विनिबंध जुड़ गए हैं. अकादेमी से ही प्रकाशित प्रतिनिधि बाल कविता संचयन का संपादन कवि दिविक रमेश ने किया है. अंतर्अनुशासनीय अनुशीलन के अंतर्गत गांधी और 1980 के बाद के हिंदी गुजराती साहित्य पर आलोक गुप्त ने पुस्तक संपादित की है. बिहार की राजनीति को केंद्र मे रखते हुए अनुरंजन झा की 'गांधी मैदान' जैसी पुस्तक बहसतलब हो सकती है, तो पूर्वांचल में माफिया के उदय, विस्तार और अंत पर संदीप कुमार पांडेय की पुस्तक 'वर्चस्व' भी कम रोचक न होगी. इसी तरह घूमंतु पत्रकार-लेखक पुष्यमित्र की पुस्तक 'रुकतापुर, बिहार जहां थम जाता हैं पहिया बदलाव की हर गाड़ी का' भी उल्लेख जरूरी है.

साल के जाते जाते पत्रकार, लेखक, समीक्षक और सिनेमा पर काम कर रहे अनंत विजय की पुस्तक 'अमेठी संग्राम' पुस्तक चुनावी अखाड़े में स्मृति इरानी और राहुल गांधी के चुनावी संग्राम का दिलचस्प  जायज़ा लेती है. यों तो ये दिन कांग्रेस की पराभव के ही हैं फिर भी अपने पत्रकारीय कौशल से वे ने केवल दो उम्मीनदवारों पर अपनी पुस्तक फोकस रखते हैं बल्कि दलगत राजनीति के अनेक 'लूपहोल्स ' भी उजागर करते चलते हैं.  इसी साल कथाकार विमल चंद पांडेय का संस्मरणात्मक रिपोर्ताज आया था 'ई इलाहाब्बाद है भइया'. तब से अब इलाहाबाद भी प्रयाग हो चला. प्रयाग जैसे शहर के चरित्र को लेकर जहां गांव गिरांव के छात्र पढ़ने और प्रतियोगिताओं की तैयारी के लिए यहां आते हैं और इस शहर के चप्पे चप्पे में रम जाते हैं. प्रयाग पर आई ललित मोहन स्याल की पुस्तक 'अथश्री प्रयाग कथा' कोई सीधा साधा शहरी वृत्तांत नहीं है, इसमें प्रयाग आ पहुंचे हजारों ग्रामीण छात्रों की जीवनचर्या, अड्डेबाजी, कम्पटीशन की हारी हुई लड़ाई लड़ने वालों का हाल ए दिल है. कथा रिपोर्ताज की शैली में स्याल ने अपने छात्रजीवन के अनुभवों की स्याही भी यहां उड़ेल दी है, जिससे आप इसे 'ट्वेल्थ फेल' या नीलोत्प्ल मृणाल के 'डार्क हार्स' के क्रम में पढ़ सकते हैं, और कहना न होगा यह इन दोनों किताबों से उन्नीस नहीं है.  रामकुमार सिंह की 'सुपर स्टार की मौत' और पेंग्विन से पत्रकार प्रभाकर मिश्र की आई पुस्तक 'एक रुका हुआ फैसला' अयोध्या विवाद के आखिरी चालीस दिनों के ब्योरे को बखूबी पाठकों के सामने परोसती है.

अनुवाद के क्षेत्र में भी गए साल कुछ अच्छी पुस्तकें आई हैं. विश्व कविता का एक चयन तीन खंडों में संभावना प्रकाशन से आया है तो यहीं से गिंसवर्ग की ख्या‍त 'हाउल' का देवेंद्र मोहन कृत अनुवाद भी आया है. साठोत्तर कविता के विक्षोभ के मूल में 'हाउल' कविता का अपना ऐतिहासिक महत्व रहा है. विश्‍व कविता का एक संचयन सेतु ने भी प्रकाशित किया है. रेनाता चेकाल्‍स्का और अशोक वाजपेयी के द्वारा अनूदित कथेतर कृतियों में अरुंधती राय की किताब 'आजादी' का अनुवाद रेयाजुल हक ने किया है. सामाजिक विज्ञान में रूचि रखने वालों को ज्यां द्रेज की चंदन श्रीवास्तव द्वारा अनूदित पुस्तक 'झोला वाला अर्थशास्त्र' पसंद आएगी. तसलीमा नसरीन की स्त्री विमर्श विषयक पुस्तक 'दूसरा पक्ष' का बेहतरीन अनुवाद कवि कल्‍लोल चक्रवती ने किया है. संभावना से सुपरिचित कवि गिरधर राठी की कुछ पुस्तकें- कथा संसार: कुछ झलकियां, कविता का फिलहाल- 'सोच विचार: कल आज और कल भी' संभावना से आई हैं.

श्री एम की प्रभात रंजन द्वारा अनूदित पुस्तक 'वह लौट आया है', ऋषि नित्यप्रज्ञा की पुस्तक 'जीवन एक उत्सव' और चंद्रमौली वेंकटेसन की 'कैटलिस्ट' भी पेगुइन रैंडम हाउस से प्रकाशित ऐसी पुस्तके हैं, जिनकी चर्चा जरूरी है. इसी साल बोधि प्रकाशन का एक और अनूठा प्रयास पुस्तक की दुनिया में याद किए जाने लायक कार्य है. वह है, केवल 100 रुपए में 10 पुस्तकों का सेट. इस सेट में कथा, रपट, कविता, कला सभी शामिल हैं. इस सेट की पुस्तकों में विष्णु नागर के स्तंभ-लेख 'पच्चीस पैसे का सिक्का', राजा राम भादू का आलेख 'कविता के आयाम', अनामिका का पत्र-संवाद 'एक ठो शहर था, एक थे पापा', जितेन्द्र भाटिया का यात्राएं, संस्मरण और विचार 'म्यांमार: गलियों से शहर और शहर से देश को देखना!', पंकज चतुर्वेदी का पर्यावरण-लेख 'लहरों में ज़हर', सुरेन्द्र मनन का एक फिल्मकार के संस्मरण 'शिलाओं पर लिखे शब्द', डॉ. राजेश व्यास की संगीत, नृत्य एवं नाट्य पर एकाग्र आलोचना 'रस निरंजन' और कहानियों की पुस्तक में मधु कांकरिया की 'नंदीग्राम के चूहे', मृदुला शुक्ला की 'दातुन' और डॉ लक्ष्मी शर्मा की 'रानियाँ रोती नहीं' शामिल है. जाहिर है शब्दों की दुनिया के लिए प्रकाशक माया मृग का यह प्रयास स्तुत्य है.

अंततः सच तो यही है कि कथेतर गद्य का संसार और भी विस्‍तृत है, जिसे एक छोटे से आलेख में समेट पाना संभव नहीं है. इस तरह कथेतर गद्य का परिमाण देखें तो 2020 में आई कृतियां पिछले साल से कोई कमतर नहीं है. कह सकते हैं कि सांसारिक व्‍याधि भी लेखन की ऊर्जा को परास्‍त नहीं कर सकी. अभी संकट टला नहीं है और संकट के वक्‍त ही कलम की असली परीक्षा होती है. यह साल लेखन की दृष्‍टि से कैसा होगा यह तो आने वाला समय ही बताएगा.

# डॉ ओम निश्चल हिंदी के सुधी आलोचक, कवि एवं भाषाविद हैं. शब्दों से गपशप, भाषा की खादी, शब्द सक्रिय हैं, खुली हथेली और तुलसीगंध, कविता के वरिष्ठ नागरिक, कुंवर नारायण: कविता की सगुण इकाई, समकालीन हिंदी कविता: ऐतिहासिक परिप्रेक्ष्य व कुंवर नारायण पर संपादित व अन्वय एवं अन्विति सहित अनेक आलोचनात्मक कृतियां प्रकाशित हो चुकी हैं.  हिंदी अकादेमी के युवा कविता पुरस्कार, आलोचना के लिए उप्र हिंदी संस्थान के आचार्य रामचंद शुक्ल आलोचना पुरस्कार, जश्ने अदब द्वारा शाने हिंदी खिताब व कोलकाता के विचार मंच द्वारा प्रोफेसर कल्या‍णमल लोढ़ा साहित्य सम्मान से सम्मानित हैं.  संपर्कः जी-1/506 ए, उत्तम नगर, नई दिल्ली-110059, मेलः [email protected]

सबसे तेज़ ख़बरों के लिए आजतक ऐप

Best non-fiction books by Indian authors – the 2021 reading list

2020 was a disaster of a monstrous level for many and many didn’t know that 2021 was waiting with daggers up and locked for severe attacks on humanity across the world… mostly in India though. We are once again getting our pace back and it’d take about a month or two more until we try to take longer strides and work upon bringing normalcy back to the country. In the meantime, if you are not one of them who can savour on fast food and Netflix to kill the infection of leisure, we have something exciting for you – a list of 11 non-fiction books by Indian authors you would love to read! Yes, for readers of the serious stage, books work like Ayurvedic healing – striking the roots of diseases like boredom and pride to completely shun the chances of the rebirth of these atrocious mental corruptions (unlike modern medicine which works only to make you feel you are being treated and you may have to revisit, visit again and yet again… perhaps be on medication for a lifelong – Netflix or Amazon Prime addiction…). So, without wasting much time in the settled but prejudiced debate, let’s get back to the list of best non-fiction books by Indian authors you should read in the remaining 2021!

• Advice and Dissent by Y V Reddy: How many of you are interested in the finance and the economy of the nation? Well, not many of us are that ‘economical’ to have such an ‘elite’ interest in a nation’s affair. Well, when it comes to our own nation, India, many of us are born debaters, political experts (call them analysts), and saviours of an argument… who isn’t? So, for all our wonderful readers, a book by Y V Reddy, former governor of India, Advice and Dissent will be a wonderful read. Read about his life, more about his life in the Indian system and a bird’s eye view of the economic growth and disaster in the hands of various political regimes. You will love the shockers as well. Buy the book from the given link to Amazon – buy the book here (Amazon India)
• India’s Biggest Cover-up by Anuj Dhar: Who doesn’t want to know more about our beloved Neta Ji, Subhash Chandra Bose? Anuj Dhar’s landmark publication has led to many speculations, notions and murmurs that readers have indulged in. Neta Ji’s life and death, mainly death, has always been a case of confusion for most Indians. There is too little concrete information that’s in the public domain and governments until Narendra Modi Government have thought a little about it. Modi made many classified files about Neta Ji public and still, it could not be satisfactory for the people who were interested in knowing more. For all such craving readers, this book, India’s Biggest Cover-up by Anuj Dhar, will be a very helpful and exciting read. Do get a copy and unfold the rolls of mystery – click here to buy from Amazon India
• Inner Engineering by Sadhguru: This is, without a doubt, a very unique Yogi’s guide to joy and you will experience it once you begin reading the book. Sadhguru, perhaps, is the only Indian mystic who can guide not only Indians with dexterity in any particular language or dialect but his pupils and disciples around the world because he has a great command over linguistic skills. Experience the same in his writing and enjoy what Sadhguru has to share about your body, your soul’s home and how you can get the most out of it. You can get a copy of this book from Amazon India by clicking the link: Buy Sahdguru’s bestselling book – click here
• The Upnishads by Sri Aurobindo: A sage, a poet and a scholar of Vedantic and ancient Hindu texts, Sri Aurobindo’s translation of The Upnishads will be very helpful for anyone who would like to have his or her share of the great Indian intellectual treasure – Upnishads. Aurobindo’s mastery over language will not let you deflect from the originality of ancient Sanskritised beauty and simplicity that the Upnishads bring. So, if you are ever wondering what Upnishads harbour inside their wombs, this will be the book you will cherish! Get a copy of this wonderful book by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh and begin reading right away or put it for the rainy days ahead! Buy the book – click here to buy now
• The Complete Book of Yoga by Swami Vivekananda: Yes! This is for anyone who wants to understand the depths of Yoga – all four of this. Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Who can be a better guide than Sri Swami Vivekananda himself? Learn the secrets of Yoga from him by reading this wonderful edition that combines all the secrets together. You can get a copy of this book from Amazon India by clicking the link – Buy the book by Swami Ji – click here
• Hindi Sahitya ka Itihas by Acharya Ramchandra Shukla: Well, you might ask why this Hindi book has found a place on this list? It is here on the list because, if you can read Hindi, you must know how this language inspired many writers over the centuries and how a volume could be built… Bhakti Movement to Chhayavadi Andolan… Proyagwadi to Yatharthawadi… Acharya Ramchandra Shukla’s famous book on the history of Hindi literature is the one you need to consult if you want to know about the development of Hindi literature over the years. Get a copy today – Buy this book here: click to buy from Amazon India
• Dharma: Decoding the Epics for a Meaningful Life by Amish Tripathi (and Bhavana Roy): You must have heard about Amish Tripathi – the banker who turned his fate with mythological, religious and epic fiction books. However, in this book, Amish Tripathi has tried something entirely new. You can read him decoding our Hindu (or better known as Sanatan civilisation) and bringing the best out for those who don’t have an adequate understanding of the depths of our Dharma. This book is a bestseller and there’s no reason you should not read it… you can get a copy right now from Amazon India – Click here to buy this book
• Sahara : The Untold Story by Tamal Bandyopadhyay: Sahara Pariwar? Sahara India? Policies? Sahara Pune Warriors? Sahara F1 team? Rings a bell? Well, like yourself and many others, there are people who may have a number of questions about Sahara’s owner, Subrat Roy’s rise to fame and money as well as about his downing from the top to somewhere in the obscure… I cannot promise that this book will answer all your questions about Subrata Roy and Sahara Pariwar but I am sure that you will have enough to be well informed and aware… what might have transpired on the screen and behind the screen. Are you ready? Read the book and know the story of one of the biggest companies in India (once a while). Get a copy today from the Amazon India link: Buy the book now – click here
• Artificial Intelligence and The Future of Power by Rajiv Malhotra: Rajiv Malhotra is one of the very few authorities when it comes to Hinduism in a scholarly context. However, in this book, he has tried to warn about the upcoming challenges that human civilisation, especially in India, may face in the coming 2-3 decades. How and why artificial intelligence is gripping our conscious and what might be the immediate and long-term consequences? There are many questions that have been raised and adequately answered by the wonderful author. You MUST read this book if you want to know more about your life and beyond. Get a copy from Amazon India right now: click here to buy the book from Amazon
• Everything About Leadership by Vivek Bindra: Who doesn’t know Vivek Bindra today? His passionate videos on leadership, time management, motivation and leadership have made him famous, very famous I should say. So, if you are not a video guy and would rather like to read what Vivek has to offer to future leaders, you can get a copy of his bestselling book Everything About Leadership and enjoy your time learning something meaningful. Get a copy – click to buy from Amazon
• The Book of Secrets: 112 mediations to discover the mystery within by Osho: Osho – the name tells many tales… Osho’s mystic writings are still a topic for debate but nobody comes close except for exceptions when it comes to following and respect that Osho garners for himself (even after his demise). The Book of Secrets by Osho is one of his many bestselling titles and it will certainly compel the reader in you to think beyond this mortal life… are you ready for the challenge? Get a copy right now and begin reading: buy the title from Amazon India – click here

So, readers… this was our list for the day and it has 11 books that you will surely like. 11 non-fiction books by Indian authors that you must read in 2021… we will be back with more lists as we design. Till then, all the best and happy reading!

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5 comments . leave new.

This is awesome..every book is a gem

Wonderful collection!

Wonderful book recommendations for the lovers of non fiction books by Indian authors… I like books by Sadhguru and even enjoy reading Anuj Dhar… thanks!

Such great recommendations. Been waiting to read some non-fiction from Indian authors since long time now. I will surely complete all the books in the list.

Such a nice collection of non-fiction books in the article. I have read some of the books from the list and I will try to complete the list surely.

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Our strong non-fiction list does a fine balancing act of information, stories, graphics, illustrations and photographs to give the reader a lot more than just facts, covering many issues green and gender, as well as people, places and events. Who said non-fiction was boring!

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Hindi Non Fiction Stories

Dipti Agarwal

फिर से दिखाई दी एक झोपड़ी और उसके बाहर बैठी मायूस आँखों से देखती लड़कियां। फिर से दिखाई दी एक झोपड़ी और उसके बाहर बैठी मायूस आँखों से देखती लड़कियां।

Dr Lalit Upadhyaya

जासूस करमचंद ने गुत्थी सु....

"यू आर रियली अ जीनियस सर!" "यू आर रियली अ जीनियस सर!"

नवल पाल प्रभाकर दिनकर

विज्ञान तेरी जय हो .

कुछ बच्चे परिन्दों की तरह आसमां में उड़ते फिर रहे थे । मैंने उन्हें नीचे बुलाया और पूछा -अरे बच्चों ... कुछ बच्चे परिन्दों की तरह आसमां में उड़ते फिर रहे थे । मैंने उन्हें नीचे बुलाया ...

Vikas Sharma

डुंगुरपुर का रहस्य - 2.

सिलसिला यहाँ खत्म नहीं होता यह तो शुरुआत करता है उन रोमांचकारी घटनाओं की जिन्हे इतिहास से छिपाया गया... सिलसिला यहाँ खत्म नहीं होता यह तो शुरुआत करता है उन रोमांचकारी घटनाओं की जिन्हे ...

Universe Of Fear

आईने के पार.

मैं अब एक कैदी बन चुका हूँ तथा इस असीम अंधेरे में आजादी की एक किरण की आस में जी रहा हूँ। मैं अब एक कैदी बन चुका हूँ तथा इस असीम अंधेरे में आजादी की एक किरण की आस में जी ...

Ajeet Kumar

उसके चेहरे पर कई भाव आते-जाते रहते। मेरे लिए वो कीमती  थे।उसकी आँखों में आंसू थे। उसने सहमति में सर ... उसके चेहरे पर कई भाव आते-जाते रहते। मेरे लिए वो कीमती  थे।उसकी आँखों में आंसू थे...

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ePustakalay : Free Library | ई पुस्तकालय : मुफ्त पुस्तकालय

Hindi books, marathi books, sanskrit books, bangla books, सर्वाधिक लोकप्रिय पुस्तकें.

आर्योंद्देश्य रत्न माला

कामसूत्र (भाग 1, 2)

सम्भोग से समाधि की ओर

अष्टांग संग्रह

सुश्रुत संहिता

भावप्रकाश निघंटु

इतिहास संबंधी पुस्तकें.

राजस्थान का इतिहास

प्राचीन भारत का ऐतिहासिक भूगोल

अलबेरुनी का भारत

प्राचीन भारत का इतिहास

सर्वाधिक लोकप्रिय उपन्यास

त्याग - पत्र

तर्क संग्रह

वैशाली की नगरवधू

परीक्षा गुरु

जायसी : व्यक्तित्व और कृतित्व

सिन्दूर की होली

धार्मिक पुस्तकें.

अन्य पुस्तकें

प्रद्युम्न चरित आदि कालिक हिन्दी काव्य

जैन धर्म और तेरहपंथ

वर्तमान भारतीय राष्ट्रीय परिवेश में पण्डित दीनदयाल उपाध्याय के शैक्षिक विचारों का आलोचनात्मक अध्ययन

बुद्ध और बौद्ध साधक

बुद्ध और नाचघर

श्रीमद वाल्मीकि रामायणम् - सुन्दरकाण्ड 5

मानस मुक्तावली

उर्वशी : उपलब्धि और सीमा

कामायनी की व्याख्यात्मक आलोचना

कबीर विषयक आलोचनाओं का तुलनात्मक मूल्यांकन

पडोशी देशो में

कविवर परमानन्ददास और वल्लभ सम्प्रदाय

भारत में पोर्च्यूगीज

विज्ञान यात्रा - रूचि राम साहनी

नरहरिभट्ट विरचित संस्कार नृसिंह

रत्नकरंडक श्रावकाचार

अभिलषितार्थ चिन्तामणिः - भाग 1

ओब्दयिहा, तुम्हारा मित्र

अभिज्ञान शाकुन्तलम्

ऋग्वेद संहिता - भाग 1

मण्डल प्रकरणम्

श्री शारीरकमीमान्सा भाष्ये - भाग 2

महापुराणम् [खण्ड 1]

जम्बु चरियं

अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय लोकयानी अनुसंधाता

सूक्ति त्रिवेणी

वेदान्तपरिभाषा

मुक्तक कुसुमांजलि

वास्तुसार प्रकरण

ग्रहलाघवं करणम्

प्रमुख देशो का आर्थिक विकास

पाणिनीय प्रबोध ( पूर्वार्द्ध )

सचित्ताचित्त निर्णय

प्राचीन सभ्यता का इतिहास

संस्कृत नाटकों में अतिप्राकृत तत्त्व

सनातन धर्म और आर्य्य समाज

पंचकर्म [श्लोक संग्रह]

जोधपुर के महाराजा मानसिंह और उनका काल

हिन्दी काव्य की अन्तश्चेतना

आधुनिक राजस्थानी का संरचनात्मक व्याकरण

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11 Books to Read If You Want to Understand Caste in India

A reading list anchored by dalit voices.

Caste is not unique to India, and no country should be reduced to a single social category, no matter how intrinsic a part of its reality. Nevertheless, to understand India you have to understand caste, whose intricacies are unarguably difficult. It is not just one of the most prominent social features of India; it is at the heart of many of the past and present fissures of the country.

I grew up in India living the reality of caste every day. Even so I had to learn, and unlearn, many things about caste while completing my two most recent books: the novel Ghost in the Tamarind , which narrates an inter-caste romance between a Brahmin man and a Dalit woman against the backdrop of powerful anti-caste movements in southern India; and a co-edited collection of academic essays on caste and life narratives.

What exactly is caste? You might have heard somewhere (perhaps in a high school or college classroom) that there are four ancient and unchanging castes in India ranging from Brahmins at the top, through Kshatriyas and Vaishyas in the middle, to Shudras at the bottom, with a fifth group of so-called Untouchables—the preferred term now is Dalits—even further below. These, though, are only partial truths, for history is replete with examples of the changeability of caste, and in practice there are thousands of castes. One truth about caste, however, is undeniable: in all its manifestations through history it has been the name for a monstrous and irredeemable system of social hierarchy and oppression based on horrific notions of ritual pollution and exclusion.

The various social groups collected most recently under the name Dalit have felt the power of this irredeemable system with the greatest force. The Indian constitution, adopted in 1950, acknowledged in an enlightened moment that the historically disadvantaged Dalits needed special support to advance socially and economically, and then set out to provide it. Since then, India has had a Dalit President and a powerful woman Dalit Chief Minister of a state. Nevertheless, the oppression of Dalits, ranging from daily humiliation (such as the maintenance of separate glasses for Dalits in some village tea shops) through sexual violence to outright massacre (alas, so many that the name of Khairlanji, where in 2006 four members of the Bhotmange family were brutally murdered, must suffice as stand in) continues till today. Reality is never neat or singular.

This is one reason “the Boom in Dalit literature”—as some have called it—of the last few decades is so important. The Boom represents the entrance of new and vital voices onto India’s literary stage—that is into forms of artistic production from which they had formerly been excluded (of course, Dalits, often musicians and performers, have had their own powerful expressive forms going back centuries). Many trace the origins of the Boom back to Dalit writing in Marathi, which began to gather force in the Seventies. From there, the Boom spread to other languages, and now there are significant bodies of work in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and other languages.

Below are eleven works that may serve as an introduction to caste. The works are not all by Dalits, for the experience of caste, and the need to critique it, is not their burden alone. Nevertheless, Dalit literature and voices help orient this list, which aims not to be representative but rather to present some highlights. All the works are widely available either in the original English or else in English translation.

R. Ambedkar, Essential Works, e d. Valerian Rodriguez

It is appropriate to start the list with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), the most important Dalit leader of modern India. Ambedkar was a brilliant rival of M. K. Gandhi, with whom he tussled over Gandhi’s inadequate position on caste. (Gandhi attacked untouchability but also romanticized the caste system in some of his pronouncements.) A deep and wide-ranging thinker, Ambedkar converted to Buddhism toward the end of his life as a protest against caste. This collection includes the pivotal Annihilation of Caste and some of his writings on Buddhism.

Premchand, “Deliverance” The World of Premchand , trans. David Rubin

I am cheating here—this is not a book. It’s a short story, written in 1931, by the greatest figure of Hindi literature in the twentieth century. I read it in my high school Hindi class, where it made an enormous impression on me. You can find it in a standard collection of Premchand’s stories such as The World of Premchand (translated by David Rubin). The story presents the thoughtless and tragic exploitation of Dukhi Chamar by a Brahmin from whom he needs a favor. Premchand is regarded as a master of social realism, but the macabre final scene of the story, juxtaposed to the title, exceeds any tame sense of realism. In 1981, the story was adapted as a TV film directed by Satyajit Ray (available on YouTube with sub-titles)—so read the story, and then compare the film.

Mulk Raj Anand, Untouchable

This novel, published in 1935, is a widely taught classic by an important Indian writer in English. It presents a day in the life of a Dalit manual scavenger Bakha, who bitterly ruminates on his lot in often florid language. The novel ends famously with Bakha attending a meeting at which Gandhi appears. In many ways the novel has not aged well, and has come in for its share of criticism for the depiction of Bakha. Nevertheless, it raises interesting questions about the literary depiction of a fictional Dalit life in English.

U. R. Ananthamurthy , Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man, trans. A. K. Ramanujan

Ananthamurthy was a towering national figure in India who wrote in Kannada. The novel, set in South India and written in 1965, is a devastating psychological study of the progressive dissolution of a respected Brahmin challenged in his orthodoxy. Samskara was translated into English by the renowned poet A. K. Ramanujan, and an acclaimed movie adaptation was made in 1970.

Urmila Pawar, The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoirs

Published in 1988 in Marathi, this autobiography helped bring particular attention to the experiences of Dalit women. Pawar recounts her life over many decades including her childhood in a rural part of Western India, conversion to Buddhism, move to the great metropolis of Bombay, and involvement in the movement for Dalit emancipation. Among other things, the book, translated by Maya Pandit, powerfully registers the evolving nature of Dalit life and politics during the twentieth century.

Poisoned Bread: Translations from Modern Marathi Dalit Literature , ed. Arjun Dangle

This 1992 anthology, edited by a prominent Dalit writer, brought to national and international visibility the Boom in Dalit literature in Marathi. The book includes poetry, fiction and non-fiction (autobiographical writing as well as critical essays) by significant figures of the Boom like Namdeo Dhasal, Baburao Bagul, and Raja Dhale. A reader might do worse than start with this iconic collection that remains relevant twenty-five years later.

Bama, Karukku , trans. Lakshmi Holmstrom  

Karukku is a 1992 award-winning autobiography in Tamil by a Christian Dalit woman, translated into English by Lakshmi Holmstrom. Bama details not only her experiences of prejudice in her village but also within the Christian denomination to which she belongs. It is a good reminder that caste is not just a Hindu problem. On its publication, the novel quickly became famous for its earthy language.

Kancha Illaiah, Why I Am Not a Hindu

This book, published in 1996, is part autobiography, part ethnography, part political analysis—and all polemics. It was enormously influential in introducing the idea of dalitbahujan . By dalitbahujan , Iliah means a social group consisting of Dalits as well as non-Dalit castes immediately above Dalits. Part of his provocative claim is that the social and cultural practices of dalitbahujan differ so much from upper caste Hindus that they cannot properly be called Hindus at all. Through this claim he sets out to debunk hindutva, or Hindu fundamentalism.  

Rohinton Mistry , A Fine Balance

Viramma with Josiane Racine and jean Luc Racine , Viramma: Life of an Untouchable

Or should I say “by Josiane Racine and Jean-Luc Racine with Viramma”? Like many collaborative biographical projects, this 1998 book raises questions about whose voice we really read in its pages and how that voice has been packaged. The book is the life of a Tamil Dalit woman based on interviews that the France-based ethnographers conducted over many years. It was first published in French and then translated into English. I include it here because the narrative presents a female Dalit voice not yet politicized by the radical movements launched in Ambedkar’s name.

Perumal Murugan , Seasons of the Palm

Shortlisted for the Kiriyama prize, this novel in Tamil presents the life of a goatherding Dalit boy who works for a non-Dalit family a little higher than him in caste. It is in equal parts tender and harrowing, and has been wonderfully translated by V. Geetha. The boy’s relationship to this family as well as the goats he herds is detailed with great insight. Though not by a Dalit writer, the novel may be regarded as a work enabled by the boom in Dalit literature. Since the book’s publication in 2000, Murugan has been attacked for a subsequent novel— One Part Woman —that was deemed offensive by the caste community that it portrayed. The engagement with caste in literary works, as I was very conscious in writing Ghost in the Tamarind , remains controversial.

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English Hindi Dictionary | अंग्रेज़ी हिन्दी शब्दकोश

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non-fiction - Meaning in Hindi

Adjective .

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The word or phrase non-fiction refers to . See non-fiction meaning in Hindi , non-fiction definition, translation and meaning of non-fiction in Hindi. Learn and practice the pronunciation of non-fiction. Find the answer of what is the meaning of non-fiction in Hindi. देखें non-fiction का हिन्दी मतलब, non-fiction का मीनिंग, non-fiction का हिन्दी अर्थ, non-fiction का हिन्दी अनुवाद।

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What is non-fiction meaning in Hindi, non-fiction translation in Hindi, non-fiction definition, pronunciations and examples of non-fiction in Hindi. non-fiction का हिन्दी मीनिंग, non-fiction का हिन्दी अर्थ, non-fiction का हिन्दी अनुवाद

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Author Interviews

Pulitzer prize finalist lydia millet publishes her first nonfiction book.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with climate change advocate and novelist Lydia Millet about her first nonfiction book: We Loved It All: A Memory of Life .

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

When Lydia Millet started writing her first nonfiction book, she was focused on animals, treating it like an encyclopedia. But as she continued, she shifted to capturing moments of understanding, exploring our connection to the natural world. In her new book, "We Loved It All: A Memory Of Life," which is out today, Millet takes us from vignettes about animals in the natural world to contemplating how to raise children and be a genuinely good citizen during multiple existential crises. I spoke with Lydia Millet about her writing journey.

LYDIA MILLET: When I read a book, I'm always most delighted when I come upon a moment that surprises me, that seems like a window opening onto something I didn't see before or recognize...

FADEL: Yeah.

MILLET: ...Or understand. And I really wanted to, in this particular book, try to make sort of a small tapestry of those moments, this sort of play of light on shadow. And so it was kind of natural, even more natural than it might be for me with fiction, to write it in, like, a stream of pieces that were, like, sort of stepping stones across a across a river or something.

FADEL: Across a life.

MILLET: Across a life, yeah.

FADEL: You have always written fiction. What was the biggest change about going to nonfiction for the first time?

MILLET: With fiction, you always have plausible deniability, right? You can say no.

FADEL: It wasn't me.

MILLET: Yeah, right. It wasn't me. That novel isn't really about me or my sainted mother or my terrible ex-boyfriend. And actually, often that denial is true. But with this, I wanted to write something unfiltered, where I played things as straight as I could and didn't pull my punches and wasn't afraid to be too earnest or too heartfelt. And so what had really preoccupied me in the background for decades was this question of how to raise children and just how to be a genuinely good citizen in this moment of multiple existential crises - you know, how all of us can stay hopeful enough to be forces for generosity and kindness in the world but not - you know, not Positive Pollyannas who tip over into passivity or denial.

FADEL: It's interesting 'cause you write about objectively depressing things - right? - the abuse of animals for human beings' needs, the strangeness of raising a human in the most intimate way, only to have them leave you because that's what the world is. But there is a love and a satire in the writing. How do you do that?

MILLET: Well, first of all, I've never been one to be able to read books that didn't have some tiny sliver of humor in them...

MILLET: ...Or cheerfulness. I think I can't help but sometimes reach for, you know, that moment of maybe it's satire or maybe it's just trying to mimic the sort of quiet wit that my father had or - but I always want there to be something to make us stand back, and humor does that, I think.

FADEL: Yeah. I mean, your books, and this book also, is so much about interconnectedness and community and our connections to nature. What happens when we sever our connections with nature?

MILLET: I think when we grow up, we're told by the culture and we even tell our own children, as we've been told by our parents, to put away childish things, and the love of animals has been seen as part of that realm of childhood. So very quickly as teenagers we go from being surrounded by animals - because, you know, animals are our songs. They're our clothing. They're our beds. We go really quickly from being surrounded by those other kinds of beings to putting up posters of celebrities on our walls. We go from identifying with other animals to idolizing and competing with other people. And I think if we reclaimed that love and fascination that we have for the others - not only animals, but also trees and plants and the landscapes they live in - what if we allowed ourselves to speak the love that we have for them and grieve for them when they're lost?

FADEL: So much about being a human is about being isolated, right? We're on our phones, and everything can be done without talking to anybody, without interacting with the world. I wonder how you think about that as you write this book that really does look at our interconnectedness and where we find community and the way we are with the world as human beings and what we've done to the world as human beings.

MILLET: Well, I think it's a kind of curious paradox, or at least a conundrum, because, I mean, technology clearly is so dangerous - right? - this Tower of Babel that proliferates seemingly infinitely and that alienates us from each other and from the rest of organic life, but at the same time can bring us so much closer. And it's also a curse. Like, having all this information is so overwhelming, and having all these stimuli and not knowing how to separate the real. So in a way, it can be paralyzing, and in another way, it gives us almost a form of omniscience.

FADEL: When you think about how to tell somebody what this book is about, because it's about so much, how would you describe it, and what are some passages and parts of the book that you look to and think, this is what I was trying to say?

MILLET: Well, first, it was about the animals, and then I understood that I wasn't really in a position to write an encyclopedia. It's more like a hymn or a prayer or some kind of sacred song. In a hymn or prayer, I mean, we have a presence within that, but it's not really about us. I want the book to be about those windows, the sort of moments of recognition and understanding that can suddenly crop up out of the background. I want it to be about maybe sometimes just being able to find, in the sentences, a glimpse of something you didn't see so clearly before.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

FADEL: That's Lydia Millet. She's the author of "We Loved It All: A Memory Of Life." Lydia, thanks so much.

MILLET: Oh, I was delighted to be here. Thank you so much.

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

10 books to add to your reading list in April

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Critic Bethanne Patrick recommends 10 promising titles, fiction and nonfiction, to consider for your April reading list.

April’s book releases cover some difficult topics, including Salman Rushdie discussing his 2022 maiming, Leigh Bardugo’s fiction about the dark arts and Ada Limón’s poetry anthology about our fragile world. However, like April, there is also sunshine: Leif Enger’s wild Great Lakes love story, Helen Tworkov’s beautiful memoir of Buddhism and a collection of the inimitable Maggie Nelson’s essays. Happy reading, happy spring!

I Cheerfully Refuse: A Novel By Leif Enger Grove Press: 336 pages, $28 (April 2)

An unusual and meaningful surprise awaits readers of Enger’s latest, which takes place largely on Lake Superior, as a man named Rainy tries to reunite with his beloved wife, Lark. While the world around this couple, a dystopian near-future American where billionaires control everything, could not be bleaker, the author’s retelling of the myth of Orpheus (who went to the underworld to rescue his wife) contains the authentic hope of a born optimist.

The Familiar: A Novel By Leigh Bardugo Flatiron Books: 400 pages, $30 (April 9)

Bardugo departs from novels of dark academia in a standalone to make the hairs on your neck stand up, set in 16th century Spain. A hidden Sephardic Jew and scullery maid named Luzia Cotado matches wits with fellow servant Guillén Santángel. Luzia discovers a secret of Guillén’s, but she’s already fallen in love with him. And because he knows hers, too, they might both avoid the Spanish Inquisition. It’s a gorgeous tale of enchantments both supernatural and earthly.

The Sleepwalkers: A Novel By Scarlett Thomas Simon & Schuster: 304 pages, $28 (April 9)

A couple honeymoons at a Greek resort. What could go wrong? In Thomas’ hands, plenty – especially as the author has never written a comfortable story; her books, from “PopCo ” to “Oligarchy,” crackle with unreliable characters, as well as big philosophical ideas. In this case, the new marriage’s breakdown is chronicled through letters between the spouses, and sometimes bits of ephemera, that ultimately untangle a dark mystery relating to the title.

The Garden: A Novel By Clare Beams Doubleday: 304 pages, $28 (April 10)

Few novels of literary fiction are written as well as “The Garden,” let alone given its sadly relevant retro setting, a 1940s country-estate obstetrical program. Irene Willard walks through its gates having endured five miscarriages; pregnant again, she and her war-veteran husband George desperately hope for a live birth. But as Irene discovers more about the woman who controls all here, Dr. Bishop, she fears carrying to term as much as she once feared pregnancy loss.

Reboot: A Novel By Justin Taylor Pantheon: 304 pages, $28 (April 23)

David Crader, former teen TV heartthrob, just wants to reboot his career when his old show “Rev Beach” has a moment. His life has devolved through substance abuse, divorce and underemployment. But when he and colleagues launch a remake, devolution continues: The protagonist’s struggles are mirrored by climate-change issues, from flooding to wildfires. Despite that darkness, Taylor’s gift for satire might make this a must-read for 2024 beach bags.

You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World By Ada Limón (Editor) Milkweed Editions: 176 pages, $25 (April 2)

A wondrous artist herself, Limón is currently poet laureate of the United States, and this anthology is part of her signature project, “You Are Here,” which will also feature poetry as public art in seven national parks. Released in conjunction with the Library of Congress, the collection features 50 previously unpublished poems by luminaries including Jericho Brown, Joy Harjo, Carl Phillips and Diane Seuss, each focusing on a piece of regional landscape.

Like Love: Essays and Conversations By Maggie Nelson Graywolf Press: 336 pages, $32 (April 2)

While all of the pieces in Nelson’s new book have previously been published elsewhere, they’re made fresh here both through being collected and through their chronological placement. Readers can practically watch Nelson’s incisive mind growing and changing as she speaks with colleagues such as Hilton Als and Judith Butler, or as she writes about queerness, motherhood, violence, the lyrics of Prince and the devastating loss of a friend.

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder By Salman Rushdie Random House: 204 pages, $28 (April 16)

On Aug. 12, 2022, the author Salman Rushdie was speaking at upstate New York’s Chautauqua festival when a man rushed the stage and attempted to murder him. Rushdie, a target of Iranian religious leaders since 1989, was permanently injured. In this book, he shares his experience for the first time, having said that this was essential for him to write. In this way, he answers violence with art, once again reminding us all that freedom of expression must be protected.

Lotus Girl: My Life at the Crossroads of Buddhism and America By Helen Tworkov St. Martin’s Essentials: 336 pages, $29 (April 16)

Dworkov, founder of the magazine Tricycle, chronicles her move from a 1960s young-adult interest in Buddhism to travels through Asia and deep study in the United States of the different strands that follow the Buddha’s teachings. Tworkov mentions luminaries such as the artist Richard Serra, the composer Charles Mingus and the Dalai Lama, but she’s not name dropping. Instead, she’s strewing fragrant petals from her singular path to mindfulness that may help us find ours.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War By Erik Larson Crown: 592 pages, $35 (April 30)

Even diehard Civil War aficionados will learn from Larson’s look at the six months between Lincoln’s 1860 election and the surrender of Union troops under Maj. Robert Anderson at Charleston’s Ft. Sumter. Larson details Anderson’s secret Christmas redeployment and explores this individual’s contradictions as a former slave owner who loyally follows Lincoln’s orders. The author also shares first-person perspective from the famous diaries of the upper-class Southerner Mary Chesnut. All together, the book provides a riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult.

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Men's Health

25 Non-Fiction Books We’re Excited to Read in 2024

Posted: February 22, 2024 | Last updated: February 22, 2024

WAS ONE OF your 2024 goals to read more? Or maybe learn something new? Non-fiction is the perfect book genre to open your mind and ease yourself back into reading. And with such a broad category of books, there's something for everyone. Historical deep-dives (perfect for someone who gets lost down Wikipedia rabbit holes), self-help books (expert-driven reads when you need advice), and everything in between all fall under this wide umbrella.

Reading books doesn't just give you a new hobby, it's also a way to become more mentally fit . Real Simple reports reading can help you relax, make you more empathetic, and may even decrease your risk of Alzheimer's disease. In a world where we're all tied to screens, there's no doubt it's great to take a break every once in a while and enjoy the tactile feel of turning the pages of a great read. And once you get into non-fiction, who knows? You may even take the next step and jump into a fun genre read like fantasy or sci-fi (we've got great 2024 picks for those too, if you're interested).

2024 is another great year for non-fiction books. We've got science-based explorations of memory, various books on how to inject more positivity into your life, and even meditations on deer (yes, deer ) to help you feel more in touch with the outdoors . And if you're a big pop culture nerd, there's also exciting books on music, movies, and sports that'll teach you the ins and outs of those exciting industries that fans (us included!) can't get enough of.

1) The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors

Those interested in nature writing, or at least how humans connect to the world around them, will enjoy The Age of Deer . Erika Howsare explores the constant presence of deer, interviewing animal control officers, a museum interpreter examining the history of deers, and even a woman who raises orphaned fawns.

Release Date: January 2

2) Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet

If climate change has you worried about the future of the planet, check out Not the End of the World . This 2024 read will not only provide some uplifting news about the state of the world, but also offers guidance on how to create a more sustainable lifestyle and contribute to a better planet.

Release Date: January 9

3) Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age

Rather than looking at aging as an emotional obstacle, what if you could avoid a midlife crisis altogether? Learning to Love Midlife wants to help readers see getting older as an exciting new chapter in life.

Release Date: January 16

4) Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading

Chris Anderson, the head of TED (as in the viral TED Talks), wants to help the world become more optimistic. His advice? Be more generous. In providing various anecdotes, including his personal narrative of TED's increasing popularity, Anderson wants to prove that kindness and charity can lead to a better society.

Release Date: January 23

5) Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections

We at Men's Health are all about helping readers improve their sex lives. So of course we're excited about Come Together , which seeks to dispel myths people have about sex in relationships (sexual satisfaction doesn't have to wane over time ) and examines the common obstacles that stops couples from having great sex lives, along with how to get over them.

Release Date: January 30

6) Fight Right: How Successful Couples Turn Conflict into Connection

While Come Together will help you fix your sex life, Fight Right wants to help you fix how you approach conflict. When tension arises in your relationship, Drs. John and Julie Gottman want to ensure you stay calm and work to find understanding when you and your partner are at odds.

7) Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business--and How to Fix It

If you've ever been called a "workaholic," this book is for you. Whether you're a manager or just a very stressed employee, Malissa Clark breaks down why constantly working is bad for both individuals and for businesses.

Release Date: February 6

8) The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center

While you may think your partner is the only friend you need, this book is set out to prove you wrong. Rhaina Cohen argues that not only are friendships important, but they should be considered just as important, if not more, than romantic relationships.

Release Date: February 13

9) Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Deep dive into Hollywood history with this look at Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?–starting with the original 1962 play, then the 1966 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and the story's lasting impact today.

10) The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without

Fasting is a fascinating part of our social, religious, and political history. John Oakes looks to examine how the idea of fasting (both in terms of food and in terms of more spiritual ideas of "fasting") have impacted humans over time, and how the idea of doing less overall can improve our lives.

11) Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being

It's easy to fall into pessimism and obsess over the worst. That's why Practical Optimism looks to give readers a way to cope during hardship, while maintaining an overall bright outlook on life. No matter what's getting you down, Practical Optimism wants to show you there's still things worth looking forward to.

Release Date: February 20

12) Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

Take a deep dive into the latest research on memory with Why We Remember . In addition to teaching you how to recall things better, the book explores the power of memory in our lives, and how we can, through memory, improve our brain's relationship to trauma, healing, and more.

13) Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection

Imagine yourself at work, stumbling through a presentation, frustrated you can't get your point across. Charles Duhigg's Supercommunicators wants to ensure nothing ever gets lost in translation for you again with this book on how storytelling skills can improve how you have conversations.

14) Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down

When your mental health takes a dip, Languishing is here for you. Corey Keyes' new book aims to reconstruct how we see self-help and mental wellness, while building up readers' resilience to get through hardships.

15) Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout

Avoid burnout with Slow Productivity , a book that looks to teach employees everywhere that the key to doing your best isn't in working to your limit, but slowing down and changing your expectations. If work overwhelms you and you're eager for a change, you might want to check out this upcoming read.

Release Date: March 5

16) 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool

If you're a fan of music history, 3 Shades of Blue dives into the creation of the jazz album Kind of Blue , made by three of the genre's greats–Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans, along with many, many others involved in the project. Get an inside look into how great music is made, and explore the moment jazz reached its popularity peak.

17) The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots

Daniela Rus, a computer scientist, answers all the questions you may have about the future of robotics and how it's intertwined with the future of humanity. This optimistic look at our technological future is great for anyone who loves deep dives into science.

18) Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball

Baseball fans will love this biography of Pete Rose, who became one of the sport's great players and managers before becoming embroiled in a major betting scandal in the 1980s. O'Brien's book details Rose's career and his downfall from interviews with Rose, his associates, and archival records.

Release Date: March 26

19) Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing

Want to improve your work-life balance and learn how to use your time wisely? Google's Executive Productivity Advisor (yes, that's a real title) provides actionable steps and advice for how to become the best version of you both at work and in your personal life

Release Date: April 2

20) Somehow: Thoughts on Love

Somehow is a meditative look at how love impacts our lives. With anecdotes from her own life, Lamott offers a warming dive into how we all share affection, and provides lessons for anyone who needs to appreciate the love in their life more.

Release Date: April 9

21) The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality

If you've ever wondered how social media has changed how you see the rest of the world, The Age of Magical Overthinking is exactly the book for you. Montell explores how the Internet and constantly being online has made us chronic overthinkers and anxious, irrational beings. And, of course, she offers a reprieve from the chaos of the modern age.

22) Everest, Inc.: The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an Industry at the Top of the World

Whether you want to climb Mount Everest or are terrified of heights, you'll find an interesting read in Everest, Inc., which charts the history of the Himalayan guiding industry, the sole reason so many people have been able to achieve the major fear of climbing Everest each year. It's an exploration of the unsung heroes of mountain climbing.

Release Date: April 16

23) The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

The Devil in the White City author Erik Larson is back with another historical retelling, this one detailing one of America's most pivotal moments: starting with Abraham Lincoln's election and going all the way to the start of the Civil War. History buffs and readers looking to dip their toes into a nonfiction story for the first time alike will enjoy Larson's newest book.

Release Date: April 30

24) Feel It All: A Therapist's Guide to Reimagining Your Relationship with Sex

Casey Tanner is a therapist who's ready to hep readers reclaim their sex lives and relationships. In Feel It All, Tanner breaks down mythos about sex and relationships that have plagued us for far too long, and reveals how you can heal past trauma, redefine sex in your life, and find your way to deeper intimacy.

Release Date: May 14

25) Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius

This biography explores the largely unexamined life of Elaine May, the multihyphenate Hollywood star who is known for her reclusive lifestyle and impressive (but limited) resume as a director. Courogen pulls back the curtain on May's life and mystery, seeking to give the director, actor, writer, and comedian her long-delayed due.

Release Date: June 4

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A Warhol Superstar, but Never a Star

Cynthia Carr’s compassionate biography chronicles the brief, poignant life of the transgender actress Candy Darling, whose “very existence was radical.”

• Share full article

By Alexandra Jacobs

CANDY DARLING: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, by Cynthia Carr

Never mind soup-can paintings and portraits of the famous — what Andy Warhol keeps on giving is books . He’s like Mother Ginger in “The Nutcracker” : Smaller people keep running out from under his capacious skirts to bow or curtsy.

The latest is Candy Darling, the transgender actress who succumbed to cancer at 29 in 1974 , after being immortalized in a famous photograph by Peter Hujar and in the Lou Reed song “ Walk on the Wild Side .” She had lived fast — indeed frequently on speed — died young, and left a mutable corpse, with considerable dissent among family and friends about whether she should be buried and eulogized as a man or a woman.

The first full-length biography of her, by Cynthia Carr, a longtime staff writer for The Village Voice — quite the Mother Ginger itself, of late — is compassionate and meticulous, reconstructing its brittle, gleaming subject as one might a broken Meissen figurine.

Born the day after Thanksgiving in 1944, Candy Darling was christened James Lawrence Slattery in Queens, soon moving to the ticky-tacky conformist hamlets of North Merrick and then Massapequa Park, Long Island, which she’d later euphemize as her “country home” but which was then an apparent cesspool of toxic masculinity.

Her father, John, was a cashier for the New York Racing Association who gambled, drank and was violent: the ultimate Daddy Dearest for a child with effeminate tendencies. Her mother, Terry, a receptionist and bank teller, was more supportive and loving — but still, hamstrung by shame. Candy’s half brother, Warren, babysat for her as a child but did not accept her as a woman.

As a child, “Jimmy,” as Candy was known then, was shunned socially and bullied terribly, once ushered onto a box and into a noose by two teenagers in a neighbor’s backyard. Understandably, she avoided regular school as much as possible; her education was in magazines, cosmetology and, of course, movies — she was a Kim Novak superfan, later emulating her.

She worked briefly at a beauty parlor, whose sympathetic owner she took on adventures like horseback riding. “We can always imagine we’re out in the wide-open spaces,” she said dreamily. “And if you imagine it strong enough, you will be.”

Like Ada Calhoun, the daughter of the art critic Peter Schjeldahl who took over his unfinished biography of the poet Frank O’Hara with sparkling results , Carr gets a boost from someone else’s abandoned legwork. Darling’s close friend Jeremiah Newton interviewed many of her intimates before they died — he features prominently in a 2011 documentary, “ Beautiful Darling ” — and shared copious photos, letters and the diaries that Darling began keeping at 13 (some previously published ). One is titled “The Worst Years of My Life.”

Carr spares us the ponderous establishing shots that weigh down many books of this genre. Though “Worst Years” covers the early ’60s, for example, the only mention of John F. Kennedy in Carr’s book comes via a fan taking a picture of Marilyn Monroe the night she sang for his birthday. Candy Darling was apolitical, the author writes — she had a wistful incandescence more than a “fire in the belly” (as Carr titled a previous book about the artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz) — “yet her very existence was radical.”

She and the future Holly Woodlawn, another Warhol favorite, both toiled as file clerks and got out of the draft, Holly by showing up in hot pants and rouge; Candy by bursting into tears.

Stardom was Darling’s absolute raison d’être. You might argue that she was not only transgender but trans-era, longing to be a product and protectorate of the studio system. Alas, Warhol was no Louis B. Mayer, his films mostly art-house experiments — Carr is heroic at summarizing them — and when Darling finally gets to Los Angeles, for the premiere of his movie “ Women in Revolt ” (titled “Sex” at the time), the closest thing she gets to a break is broken promises from a drunk Ed McMahon needing roadside assistance. She does appear for about 15 seconds, uncredited, in the nightclub scene of “Klute, ” and for a while dated Roger Vadim.

Starring in Tennessee Williams’s late-career work “Small Craft Warnings” off Broadway was another high point — though even then neither the male nor the female actors wanted her in their dressing room, and she was consigned to a broom closet. She appeared in a Warhol-staged fashion show for Halston, but was only allowed to wear a maid’s costume.

Darling kept her chin up despite these humiliations, but again and again the rest of her body betrayed her. (Poverty and drugs didn’t help.) By 18, she’d lost almost a third of her teeth. She agonized about what she called “my flaw” — the pesky penis — but vacillated on what the publicist R. Couri Hay, one of those who eulogized her using the masculine pronoun, termed “the final cut.”

The massive quantities of unregulated female hormones she took, doctors and others thought, probably killed her — and yet dying young was in keeping with her fantasy of kinship to platinum-haired idols like Jean Harlow. Sardonic to the end, she joked that the presumed tumor hardening her belly was some kind of immaculate conception.

In a society ill equipped to accept her, Candy Darling’s short life was one of couch-surfing and cadging, which can make for some weird and grotty pages — oh, there’s a desiccated chicken under the bed. Many of those who remember her are unreliable narrators. But, as Carr notes: “All of them so delightful!” Bob Colacello, the O.G. Warhol chronicler, wrote that news of her fatal illness led to the only time he’d seen the artist cry.

There wasn’t really vocabulary to describe the territory Darling was exploring back then — maybe there’s too much vocabulary now, but that’s a different conversation — and her biographer extends a sure hand across the breach. To push her from the Warhol wings to center stage, at a moment when transgender rights are in roiling flux, just makes sense.

And you have to cheer when Tennessee Williams is asked by some rude person whether his star is a transsexual or a transvestite, and he roars back: “What a question to ask a lady!”

CANDY DARLING : Dreamer, Icon, Superstar | By Cynthia Carr | Farrar, Straus & Giroux | 432 pp. | $30

Alexandra Jacobs is a Times book critic and occasional features writer. She joined The Times in 2010. More about Alexandra Jacobs

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