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Empire of the Soul
Author: Paul William Roberts

Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1573220477
Pages: 278
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Paul William Roberts's journeys through India span twenty years, and in Empire of the Soul, he creates a remarkably sweeping portrait of the political, cultural, and spiritual life of the subcontinent. He shows us the crumbling palaces where maharajas live much as they did five centuries ago; the ashrams, temples, and caves, where the holy men are often as terrifying as they are tender; the remote villages reached by torturous journeys on ramshackle buses; and a millionaire drug dealer's heavily guarded fortress on India's border with China.
Roberts brings historical perspective to his observations of modern India. The decadence of a settlement of hippies stranded in the paradise of Goa is juxtaposed with an account of the brutality of the Inquisition in India. The plummeting fortunes of a family of Calcutta aristocrats serve to illustrate the fate of the entire city over the last few decades.