{"product_id":"mumbai-fables-9780691142845","title":"Mumbai Fables","description":"\u003cp\u003eA sweeping cultural history of Indias largest city  A place of spectacle and ruin  Mumbai exemplifies the cosmopolitan metropolis. It is not just a big city but also a soaring vision of modern urban life. Millions from India and beyond  of different ethnicities  languages  and religions  have washed up on its shores  bringing with them their desires and ambitions. Mumbai Fables explores the mythic inner life of this legendary city as seen by its inhabitants  journalists  planners  writers  artists  filmmakers  and political activists. In this remarkable cultural history of one of the worlds most important urban centers  Gyan Prakash unearths the stories behind its fabulous history  viewing Mumbai through its turning points and kaleidoscopic ideas  comic book heroes  and famous scandalsthe history behind Mumbais stories of opportunity and oppression  of fabulous wealth and grinding poverty  of cosmopolitan desires and nativist energies.  Starting from the catastrophic floods and terrorist attacks of recent years  Prakash reaches back to the sixteenth-century Portuguese conquest to reveal the stories behind Mumbais historic journey. Examining Mumbais role as a symbol of opportunity and reinvention  he looks at its nineteenth-century development under British rule and its twentieth-century emergence as a fabled city on the sea. Different layers of urban experience come to light as he recounts the narratives of the Nanavati murder trial and the rise and fall of the tabloid Blitz  and Mumbais transformation from the red city of trade unions and communists into the saffron city of Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena. Starry-eyed planners and elite visionaries  cynical leaders and violent politicians of the street  land sharks and underworld dons jostle with ordinary citizens and poor immigrants as the city copes with the dashed dreams of postcolonial urban life and lurches into the seductions of globalization.  Shedding light on the citys past and present  Mumbai Fables offers an unparalleled look at this extraordinary metropolis.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45279822446645,"sku":"ByrdShop_069114284X","price":65.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780691142845.jpg?v=1780612146","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/mumbai-fables-9780691142845","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}