The Lottery of Birth

Friends, I’m pleased to announce my first book, ‘The Lottery of Birth: On Inherited Social Inequalities’. This collection of fifteen essays has been in the works for over seven years, and includes extensively updated versions of many essays that first appeared in other online or print venues. Published by Three Essays Collective, the book is now available worldwide. I hope you will give it a look and spread the word. I can arrange a complimentary copy for anyone interested in reviewing the book on any forum. Simply send me a message with a mailing address.
 

A new book on inequalities in India

The Lottery of Birth: On Inherited Social Inequalities by Namit Arora
Publisher ⇒ Three Essays Collective | April 2017 | Paperback, 300 pages | Kindle | Excerpt
Purchase ⇒ From Publisher (free shipping) | Flipkart | Amazon IN, US, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES | B&N

An egalitarian ethos has not been a prominent feature of Indian civilization, at least since the decline of Buddhism over a thousand years ago. All people, it is believed, are created unequal, born into a hierarchy of status and dignity, and endowed not with universal but particular rights and duties. This has greatly amplified the unfairness of accidents of birth in shaping one’s lot in life. Despite a long history of resistance, such inequalities have thrived and mutated, including under European rule, modernity, and markets.

Starting with the deeply moving stories of three writers, Arora explores the origins, persistence, and textures of inequalities rooted in the lottery of birth in India—of caste, class, gender, language, region, religion, and more—and their intersections in daily life. Blending scholarly rigor with moral intelligence, these essays engage with the Bhagavad Gita; the legacies of Ambedkar and Gandhi; Indian modernity, democracy, and nationalism; linguistic hierarchies; reservations; violence against women; identity politics; and much else that today weighs on Indian minds. (Read an excerpt.)
 

Praise for the book:

“The Lottery of Birth reveals Namit Arora to be one of our finest critics. In a raucous public sphere marked by blame and recrimination, these essays announce a bracing sensibility, as compassionate as it is curious, intelligent and nuanced.” 
        — Pankaj Mishra, Essayist and Novelist.

“A remarkable compendium. The topics Arora tackles here—India’s formidable caste, class, and gender inequalities, and how its leaders, writers, and thinkers have engaged with them—have been tackled before, but mostly in dense academic volumes. What’s unique here is Arora’s seamlessly accessible and personable language, rich with autobiographical context, so we feel that the author has a stake in what he speaks of, above all, as an engaged citizen. From ancient scriptures to Dalit literature, reservations to violence against women, Arundhati Roy’s controversial views on Gandhi and Ambedkar to Perry Anderson’s controversial views on Indian history, these essays are essential reading for anyone who wants to understand contemporary India.” 
        — Arun P. Mukherjee, Professor Emerita, York University.

“Namit Arora writes with envy-inspiring clarity and erudition about the central role in our lives of the many random inequalities we begin life with, such as class, gender, and, especially important in the Indian context, caste. This brilliant book is an immensely useful corrective to the conservative notion that people get more-or-less what they deserve, based on their own ‘merit’ and hard work. Read it. If nothing else, it will surely soften your attitude toward the disadvantaged in our midst, which is never a bad thing.”
        — S. Abbas Raza, Founding Editor, 3 Quarks Daily. 

 

Read an excerpt from the introductory essay in The Wire.

Click image below to enlarge. To buy a copy, look at the "Purchase" options above.

Book reviews:

• “To understand what is structural violence and what causes it, is this remarkable book . . . Namit Arora is an unlikely writer of a book such as this, and thus is all the more convincing. . . . These are essays written with honesty, intelligence, sensitivity and with ease. Arora has read all the relevant literature in history, anthropology and political theory and writes for the general reader. What is above all significant, is his respect for data, skillfully analysed. . . . When voices are being silenced, when debate is being stifled, we need more argumentative Indians than we have. Namit Arora’s brilliant book has contributed to this, and we must thank him for that.” —Dr. Mohan Rao, The Book Review (online), July-August 2017.
   
• “Arora’s wonderful collection of essays . . . engages with an enormous range of ideas succinctly and with deftness. A theoretical foundation, solid and up-to-date, is laid, various aspects of an issue examined and then, finally, a cool analysis and evaluation given. . . . Books of such intelligence and clarity are needed in our post-truth world. For the young in India, this could be a moral compass and a guide. If this book opens some eyes, till now willfully shut, it will usher in a better India.” —P. Vijaya Kumar, Outlook (PDF), 27 November 2017.
   
• “Arora is painstakingly sensible in most of his opinions. . . . In his introduction, he deconstructs the various privileges that enabled his success and poses vital questions to himself and his readers . . . [He] brings a strong liberal disposition to weigh in behind contrarian opinions. He undertakes "the critic's simple, irritating, somehow necessary job", as Alex Ross put it in a recent essay for the New Yorker, "to stand in a public space and say, 'Not quite.'"” —Thomas Manuel, 3 Quarks Daily, 30 October 2017.
   
• “The effort behind this volume must have been enormous and it deserves to be appreciated . . . The depth of learning, the impeccable logic, the range of references and the pellucid writing are not the only things that dazzle us; there is a rare lack of cynicism or bitterness and a moderation of tone that impresses too.” —PV Kumar, Nirmukta, 12 December 2017.
   
• “[Arora analyses] the psychological, social and ideological barriers to the level [playing] field . . . A delicious discussion [lays] the foundation for understanding the ‘forces that help sustain the fiction of deserved successes and rewards, perpetuate inherited privileges, and obstruct equal opportunity for all.’” —Stanley Coutinho, Free Press Journal, 17 December 2017.
   
• “भारतीय जाति व्यवस्था की साहित्यिकी, वैचारिकी, समाजशास्त्र और राजनीति इन सभी पहलुओं से दो-चार होने वाली यह किताब अपने ढंग की अनूठी कृति है क्योंकि यह किसी बंधी-बंधाई रीति का अनुसरण नहीं करती |” —Kuldeep Kumar, Outlook Hindi (online), 05 May 2017.
   

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