Böcker av Swapna Liddle

Over at least two millennia, Delhi has witnessed several kingdoms andempires come and go, and has been enriched by each one of them. Theirimprint survives to this day in the modern metropolis-most visibly, in itshistoric buildings, gardens and settlements.In 14 Historic Walks of Delhi, Swapna Liddle, acclaimed historian andpassionate narrator of the city's heritage, takes us to iconic monuments andneighbourhoods-World Heritage Sites like Qutub Minar, Humayun's Tomband Red Fort; the sprawling Lodi Gardens; the bustling galis of ChandniChowk and Nizamuddin; the Central Vista of New Delhi; as well as lesserknownareas like the Satpula dam and the Mehrauli and Khirki villages.In crisp and breezy prose, Liddle gives us the historical and architecturalsignificance of these sites, sprinkling her narrative with entertaininganecdotes. Some other highlights of the book are:¿ Detailed maps accompanying every route, with information about tickets,the nearest bus stop and metro station, parking availability, and adviceabout appropriate walking gear.¿ Architectural features described in ways that make appreciation ofstructural and decorative elements easy for a lay person as well.¿ Photographs taken specifically to accompany the text.First published in 2011, this bestseller-extensively revised and updated in2023-is the finest, most useful guide to one of the world's great cities forthe tourist and the local resident, the flaneur and the serious history enthusiastalike.

Combining immaculate scholarship with extraordinary storytelling, Swapna Liddle has produced an outstanding book of narrative history-on a great city in transition, and on early modern India-that will be read and discussed for decades.

New Delhi was the grandest planned capital city of the British empire. In its meticulous urban plan it owed as much to earlier imperial traditions of Delhi as it did to Western movements such as the Garden City and City Beautiful. It is interesting to examine the process by which this plan came into being, and the interactions between the people responsible for it. This new city also became the centre of a culture at the cusp of Indian and British Indian society - centering on the shopping precinct of Connaught Place, restaurants, clubs, cinema theatres and other institutions. In the years immediately following independence and partition, came a sudden expansion of the metropolis beyond the limits of New Delhi. This left the original New Delhi as a predominantly administrative centre, with a low density of population, and an oasis of green. Far from being a sterile space however, its many cultural institutions, public spaces and thriving shopping precincts have given it a persisting vibrancy.