The Mosaic Rooms is delighted to invite you to the launch of Pankaj Mishra’s new book:

FROM THE RUINS OF EMPIRE
The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia

In conversation with Kamila Shamsie

Monday 23 July, 7pm

The Victorian period, viewed in the West as a time of self-confident progress, was experienced by Asians as a catastrophe. Foreign soldiers and merchants tore apart the great empires which had once formed the heart of civilization. It was clear that for Asia to recover a vast intellectual effort would be required.

Pankaj Mishra’s fascinating new book tells the story of a remarkable group of men from across the continent who met the challenge of the West. Incessantly travelling, questioning and agonising, they both hated the West and recognised that an Asian renaissance needed to be fuelled in part by engagement with the enemy. Through many setbacks and wrong turns, a powerful, contradictory and ultimately unstoppable series of ideas were created that now lie behind everything from the Chinese Communist Party to Al Qaeda, from Indian nationalism to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Pankaj will discuss this with Kamila Shamsie, with a question and answer session to follow, and the opportunity to purchase copies of the book for signing.

Pankaj Mishra is the author of Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, The Romantics, An End to Suffering and Temptations of the West. He writes principally for the Guardian, New York Times, London Review of Books and New York Review of Books. He lives in London and Shimla.

FREE, rsvp@mosaicrooms.org

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