The advance access page of the International Journal of Constitutional Law (I-CON) has a fascinating article by Pratap Bhanu Mehta describing the ten books that have most influenced him. The piece makes for a remarkable read not simply because of the range of books covered (the list includes the Mahabharata, Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, Rawls’ Theory of Justice, Constituent Assembly Debates, Montaigne’s Essays, Max Weber, Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, Nehru’s Discovery of India, and Hazari Prasad Dwivedi’s Kabir) but also because we are exposed to Mehta’s amazing ability to read books in an almost meta-theoretical way, as if to ask – what does this book uniquely do that no other book does.
Which Books Changed You?
Further reading
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Madhav, this is brilliant. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome. Wonderful to know the books which influenced India's foremost political theorist and public intellectual. Unfortunately, access to this article requires subscription.
I think he has missed to name three most important epochal books like; Ram Charit Manas of Goswami Tulasi Das, My Experiments With Truth of M. K. Gandhi and Godan by Munshi Premchand. No Indian book lover can remain uninfluenced with the sweep, contents and ascension of deep touching language.
Parmanand Pandey