Out of God's Oven

Book:	Out of God's Oven: Travels in a Fractured Land
Author:	Dom Moraes, Sarayu Srivasta
Honors:	2004 Kiriyama-Nonfiction finalist Score: 6.54
Genres:	Nonfiction books
Publisher:	Penguin Books India

Despite all odds, it is often said, India holds together. Perhaps it does, the authors of this brilliantly perceptive examination of Indian society concede, but there are bitter truths that this uncertain success barely conceals. For, even after half a century of independence and the institution of democracy, India remains a deeply divided society, a “fractured land”. While the old inequities of caste and class persist, there are new challenges posed by the advent of extreme religious fundamentalism and an unabashedly consumerist culture.

Out of God’s Oven is an uncompromising look at the drama of contemporary India, based on the authors’ personal memories and first-hand accounts of terrible landmarks in Indian history, such as the communal riots in Gujarat, the strife in Ayodhya, Naxal violence in Bengal, terrorism in Punjab, and caste wars in Bihar. Recording the voices of several Indians, including the anonymous and the famous, the dispossessed and the privileged, the sane and the fanatical, Dom Moraes and Sarayu Srivatsa have produced a revelatory and sobering book that will be remembered for a long time to come.

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