The Age of Kali

This collection brings together William Dalrymple’s reportage and travel writing from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka during the 1990s. Its subjects include caste violence, regional insurgency, political corruption, religious nationalism, changing royal families and communities negotiating rapid economic and social change.

Rather than offering a single chronological history, the essays move between places and individuals to examine the pressures reshaping South Asia after the Cold War. The title invokes the Hindu age of disorder, but the book’s strength lies in its close observation of specific people and institutions rather than a simple narrative of decline.